/?7e 


ALL    SAINTS'    DAY 

AND  OTHER  SERMONS. 


TENTH  EDITION. 

CHARLES  KINGSLEY:  LETTERS  AND  MEMO- 
RIES OF  HIS  LIFE.  Edited  by  his  WIFE,  i  vol., 
with  Portrait  engraved  on  Steel,  Illustrations  on  Wood,  and 
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ALL    SALNTS'   DAY 

AND    OTHER   SERMONS 


BY 


THE   REV.    CHARLES    KINGSLEY,    M.A 

LATE   RECTOR   OF   EVERSLEY   AND   CANON    OF   WESTMINSTER 


EDITED  BY 

THE  REV.  W.  HARRISON,  M.A. 

RECTOR  OF  BRINGTON 


NEW   YORK 

SCRIBNER,  ARMSTRONG  &   COMPANY 

1878 

\All  Rights  Reserved^ 


Trow*s 

Printing  and  Bookbinding  Cc^ 


TO 
THE  YERY  REV.  JOHN  HOWSON,  D.D., 

DEAN    OF   CUESTEK, 

AND  TO 

THE  BELOVED  CONGREGATION  OF  CHESTER  CATHEDTiAL, 

BEFORE   WHOM   MANY   OF   THESE   SERMONS   WERE    PREACHED, 

THIS  VOLUME  IS  DEDICATED, 

IN  MEMORY  OF 
THEIR    SERVANT    IN    THE    LORD, 
CHARLES    KINGSLEY,  . 

SOMETIME   CANON  OF   CHESTKH. 


"  Inheriting  the  zeal 
Am  from  the  sanctity  of  elder  times 
Not  deviating  ; — a  priest,  the  like  of  whom 
If  multiplied,  and  in  their  stations  set, 
Would  o'er  the  bosom  of  a  joyful  land 
Spread  true  religion,  and  her  genuine  fruits." 

The  Excursion — Book  vi, 


PREFATORY    NOTE 


The  following  Sermons  could  not  be  arranged 
according  to  any  proper  sequence.  Those,  how- 
ever, which  refer  to  doctrine  and  the  Church 
Seasons  will  mostly  be  found  at  the  beginning 
of  the  volume,  whilst  those  which  deal  with 
practical  subjects  are  placed  at  the  close. 

A  few  of  the  Sermons  have  already  appeared 
in  "Good  AVords;"  but  by  far  the  greater  num- 
ber were  never  prepared  by  their  author  for  the 
press.  They  were  written  out  very  roughly — 
sometimes  at  an  hour's  notice,  as  occasion  de- 
manded—and were  only  intended  for  delivery  from 
the  pulpit. 

The  original  MSS.  have  been  adhered  to  as 
closely  as  possible. 

It  is  thought  that  many  to  whom  tlie  late  Rec- 
tor of  Eversley  was  dear  will  welcome  the  pul^li- 


viii  Preface. 

cation    of    these    earnest    words,    and   find    tliem 
helpful  in  the  Christian  life. 

"  Blessed  are  the  dead  which,  die  in  the  Lord 
from  henceforth  :  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they 
may  rest  from  their  labours ;  and  their  works  do 
follow  them." 


CONTENTS 


SERMON  PAGE 

I.  All  Saiis  rs' Day.     Rev.  vii.  9-12,        ...  1 

II.  Preparationt  for  Advent.     Amos  iv.  12,        .  .  9 

III.  The  Purifying  Hope.     1  St  John  iii.  2,  .  .20 

IV.  The  Lord  coming  to  His  Temple.     Mai.  iii.  1,2,      .  30 
V.  Advent  Lessons.     Rom.  vii.  22-25.      ...  41 

VI.  Capital  Punishment.    Gen.  ix.  1,  3-G,  .  .  53 

VII.  Temptation.     St  Matt.  iv.  3,    .  .  .  .  65 

VIII.  Mother's  Love.     St  Matt.  xv.  22-28,  .  .  76 

IX.  €}ooD  Friday.     St  Luke  xxiv.  5,  6,      .  .  .  85 

X.  The  Image  of  the  Earthy  and  of  the  Heavenly. 

1  Cor.  XV.  49,  .  .  .  .  .  .  94 

XL  Easter  Day.    St  John  xii.  24,  25,        .  .  .        101 

XII.  Presence  in  Absence.     St  John  xvi.  13,  .  .        109 

XIII.  Ascension  Day.     St  John  viii.  58,        .  .  .116 

XIV.  The  Comforter.     St  John  xv.  26,        .  .  .124 
XV.  Thou  ART  Worthy.     Rev.  iv.  11,        .  .  .        134 

XVI.  The  Glory  of  the  Trinity.    Ps.  civ.  31-33,  .  .  142 

XVII.  Love  of  God  and  Man.     1  St  John  iv.  16-21,  .  .  151 

XVIII.  Courage.    Acts  iv.  13,  18-20,    ....  161 

XIX.  Good  Days.     1  St  Peter  iii.  8-12,          .  .  .  170 

XX.  Grace.    St  John  i.  16,  17,  .  .  .  .181 

XXI.  Father  and  Child.     1  (Jor.  i.  4,  5,  7,  .  .  .  190 

XXII.  God  is  our  Refuge.    Ps.  xlvi.  1,         .  .  .  209 


Contents. 


SERMON 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

XXXIX. 

XL. 

XLI, 

XLII. 

XLIII, 


PAGE 

Pride  and  Humility.     1  St  Peter  v.  5,      .            .  209 

Worship.     Eev.  xi.  16,  17,             ...  217 

The  Peace  of  God.     Colos.  iii.  15,             .            .  22S 

Sins  of  Parents  Visited.     Ezek.  xviii.  1-4,          .  238 

Avenging  Law.     St  Matt.  v.  25,  26,          .            .  247 

St  John  the  Baptist.     St  Luke  iii.  2,  3,  7,  9-14,  256 

The  Present  Eecompence.     Pro  v.  xi.  31,              .  265 

The  Kingdom  of  Heaven.     St  Matt.  xxii.  2-7,     .  274 

The  Unchangeable  Christ.     Heb.  xiii.  8.            .  285 

Reformation  Lessons.     2  Kings  xxiii.  3,  4,  25,  26,  292 

Human  Soot.     St  Matt,  xviii.  14,  .            .            .  302 

National  Sorrows  and  National  Lessons. 

2  Sam.  xix.  14,         ....             .  312 

Grace  and  Glory.     St  John  ii.  11,             .            •  320 

Useless  Sacrifice.     Isa.  i.  11-17,  .            .            .  336 

The  Surprise  of  the  Eighteous.  St  Matt.  xxv.  34-37,  34/ 


The  Lord's  Prayer.     St  Matt.  vi.  9,  10, 
The  Distracted  Mind.     St  Matt.  vi.  34, 
The  Lesson  of  Life.     Hebrews,  v.  7,  8,    . 
Sacrifice  to  C^:sar  or  to  God.     St  Matt.  xxii. 
The  Unjust  Steward.     St  Luke  xvi.  8,  . 
The  Eich  and  the  Poor.    Prov.  xxii.  2, 


357 
365 
372 
378 
385 
397 


PEIITCETGIT 

SEEMON    I. 

ALL     saints'     DAT. 
Westminster  Abhei/.     November  1,  1874. 

Revelation  vii.  9-12. 

"After  this  I  beheld,  and,  lo,  a  great  multitude,  which  no  man  could 
number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  people,  and  tongues, 
stood  before  the  throne,  and  before  the  Lamb,  clothed  with  white 
robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands  ;  and  cried  with  a  loud  voice, 
saying,  Salvation  to  our  God  which  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and 
unto  the  Lamb.  And  all  the  angels  stood  round  about  the  throne, 
and  about  the  elders  and  the  four  beasts,  and  fell  before  the  throne 
on  their  faces,  and  worshipped  God,  saying,  Amen  :  Blessing,  and 
glory,  and  wisdom,  and  thanksgiving,  and  honour,  and  power,  and 
might,  be  unto  our  God  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen." 

To-day  is  All  Saints'  Day.  On  this  day  we  com- 
memorate— and,  as  far  as  our  dull  minds  will  let  us, 
contemplate — the  saints  ;  the  holy  ones  of  God  ;  the 
pure  and  the  triumphant — be  they  who  they  may,  or 
whence  they  may,  or  where  they  may.  We  are  not 
bidden  to  define  and  limit  their  number.  We  are 
expressly  told  that  they  are  a  great  multitude,  which 
no  man  could  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds, 
and  peoples,  and  tongues ;  and  most  blessed  news 
that  is  for  all  who  love  God  and  man.  We  are  not 
told,  again — and  I  beg  you  all  to  mark  this  well — 
that  this  great  multitude  consists  merely  of  those  who, 
3.ccording  to  the  popular  notion,  have  ''gone  to  heaven," 

A 


2  All  Saints  Day. 

as  it  is  called,  simply  because  they  have  not  gone  to 
hell.  Not  so,  not  so  !  The  great  multitude  whom  we. 
commemorate  on  All  Saints'  Day,  are  saints.  They 
are  the  holy  ones,  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  mankind, 
the  elect,  the  aristocracy  of  grace.  These  are  they  who 
have  kept  themselves  unspotted  from  the  world.  They 
are  the  pure  who  have  washed  their  robes,  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  which  is  the 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  They  are  those  who  carry  the 
palm-branch  of  triumph,  who  have  come  out  of  great 
tribulation,  who  have  dared,  and  fought,  and  suffered 
for  God,  and  truth,  and  right.  Nay,  there  are  those 
among  them,  and  many,  thank  God — weak  women,  too, 
among  them — who  have  resisted  unto  blood,  striving 
against  sin. 

And  who  are  easy-going  folk  like  you  and  me,  that 
we  should  arrogate  to  ourselves  a  place  in  that  grand 
company  ?  Not  so  !  What  we  should  do  on  All  Saints' 
Day  is  to  place  ourselves,  with  all  humility,  if  but  for 
an  hour,  where  we  can  look  afar  off  upon  our  betters, 
and  see  what  they  are  like,  and  what  they  do. 

And  what  are  they  like,  those  blessed  beings  of  whom 
the  text  speaks  ?  The  Gospel  for  this  day  describes 
them  to  us  ;  and  we  may  look  on  that  description  as 
complete,  for  He  who  gives  it  is  none  other  than  our 
Lord  Himself.  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in-  spirit ;  for 
theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  they  that 
mourn  :  for  they  shall  be  comforted.  Blessed  are  the 
meek:  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth.  Blessed  are  they 
who  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness :  for  they  shall 
be  filled.    Blessed  are  the  merciful :  for  they  shall  obtain 


All  Saints  Day.  3 

mercy.  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart :  for  they  shall 
see  God.  Blessed  are  the  peace-makers  :  for  they  shall 
be  called  the  children  of  God.  Blessed  are  they  which 
are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake  :  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall 
revile  you,  and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner 
of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake.  Rejoice,  and 
be  exceeding  glad  :  for  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven." 

This  is  what  they  are  like ;  and  what  we,  I  fear,  too 
many  of  us,  are  not  like.  But  in  proportion  as  we 
grow  like  them,  by  the  grace  of  God,  just  so  far  shall  we 
enter  into  the  communion  of  saints,  and  understand 
the  bliss  of  that  everlasting  All  Saints'  Day  which  St 
John  saw  in  heaven. 

And  what  do  they  do,  those  blessed  beings  ?  What- 
ever else  they  do,  or  do  not  do,  this  we  are  told  they 
do — they  worship.  They  satisfy,  it  would  seem,  in 
perfection,  that  mysterious  instinct  of  devotion — that 
inborn  craving  to  look  upward  and  adore,  which,  let 
false  philosophy  say  what  it  will,  proves  the  most  be- 
nighted idolater  to  be  a  man,  and  not  a  brute — a  spirit, 
and  not  a  merely  natural  thing. 

They  have  worshipped,  and  so  are  blest.  They  have 
hungered  and  thirsted  after  righteousness,  and  now  they 
are  filled.  They  have  longed  for,  toiled  for,  it  may  be  died 
for,  the  true,  the  beautiful,  and  the  good  ;  and  now  they 
can  gaze  upward  at  the  perfect  reality  of  that  which  they 
saw  on  earth,  only  as  in  a  glass  darkly,  dimly,  and  afar ; 
and  can  contemplate  the  utterly  free,  the  utterly  beauti- 
ful, and  the  utterly  good  in  the  character  of  God  and  the 
face  of   Jesus    Christ.       They  entered  while  on   earth 


4  All  Saints  Day. 

into  the  mystery  and  the  glory  of  self-sacrifice  ;  and  now 
they  find  their  bliss  in  gazing  on  the  one  perfect  and 
eternal  sacrifice,  and  rejoicing  in  the  thought  that  it  is 
the  cause  and  ground  of  the  whole  universe,  even  the 
Lamb  slain  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

I  say  not  that  all  things  are  clear  to  them.  How 
can  they  be  to  any  finite  and  created  being  1  They, 
and  indeed  angels  and  archangels,  must  walk  for  ever 
by  faith,  and  not  by  sight.  But  if  there  be  mysteries 
in  the  universe  still  hidden  from  them,  they  know  who 
has  opened  the  sealed  book  of  God's  secret  counsels, 
even  the  Lamb  who  is  the  Lion,  and  the  Lion  who  is 
the  Lamb ;  and  therefore,  if  all  things  are  not  clear  to 
them,  all  things  at  least  are  bright,  for  they  can  trust 
that  Lamb  and  His  self-sacrifice.  In  Him,  and  through 
Him,  light  will  conquer  darkness,  justice  injustice,  truth 
ignorance,  order  disorder,  love  hate,  till  God  be  all  in 
all,  and  pain  and  sorrow  and  evil  shall  have  been  exter- 
minated out  of  a  world  for  which  Christ  stooped  to  die. 
Therefore  they  worship  ;  and  the  very  act  of  worship — 
understand  it  well — is  that  great  reward  in  heaven  which 
our  Lord  promised  them.  Adoration  is  their  very  bliss 
and  life.  It  must  be  so.  For  what  keener,  what 
nobler  enjoyment  for  rational  and  moral  beings,  than 
satisfaction  with,  and  admiration  of,  a  Being  better 
than  themselves  ?  Therefore  they  worship  ;  and  their 
worship  finds  a  natural  vent  in  words  most  fit  though 
few,  but  all  expressing  utter  trust  and  utter  satisfaction 
in  the  worthiness  of  God.  Therefore  they  worship ; 
and  by  worship  enter  into  communion  and  harmony 
not  only  with  each  other,  not  only  with  angels  and  arch- 


All  Saints  Day.  5 

angels,  but  with  all  the  powers  of  nature,  the  four 
beings  which  are  around  the  throne,  and  with  every 
creature  which  is  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  and  under  the 
earth,  and  in  the  sea.  For  them,  likewise,  St  John 
heard  saying,  "  Blessing  and  glory,  and  honour,  and 
power,  be  unto  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and 
to  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever." 

And  why  ?  I  think,  with  all  humility,  that  the  key 
to  all  these  hymns — whether  of  angels  or  of  men,  or  of 
mere  natural  things — is  the  first  hymn  of  all ;  the  hymn 
which  shows  that,  however  grateful  to  God  for  what  He 
has  done  for  them  those  are  whom  the  Lamb  has 
redeemed  by  His  blood  to  God,  out  of  every  kindred, 
and  nation,  and  tongue ;  yet,  nevertheless,  the  hymn  of 
hymns  is  that  which  speaks  not  of  gratitude,  but  of 
absolute  moral  admiration — the  hymn  which  glorifies 
God,  not  for  that  which  He  is  to  man,  not  for  that  which 
He  is  to  the  universe,  but  for  that  which  He  is  absol- 
utely and  in  Himself — that  which  He  was  before  all 
worlds,  and  would  be  still,  though  the  whole  universe, 
all  created  things,  and  time,  and  space,  and  matter,  and 
every  created  spirit  likewise,  should  be  annihilated  for 
ever.      And  what  is  that  ? 

''  Holy,  holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  was, 
and  is,  and  is  to  come." 

Ah  !  what  a  Gospel  lies  within  those  words !  A 
Gospell  Ay,  if  you  will  receive  it,  the  root  of  all 
other  possible  Gospels,  and  good  news  for  all  created 
beings.  What  a  Gospel !  and  what  an  everlasting  fount 
of  comfort !  Surely  of  those  words  it  is  true,  ''  Blessed 
are  they  who,   going  through  the  vale  of  misery,  find 


6  All  Saints  Day. 

therein  a  well,  and  the  pools  are  filled  with  water." 
Know  you  not  what  I  mean  ?  Happier,  perhaps,  are 
3^011 — the  yonng  at  least  among  you — if  you  do  not 
know.  But  some  of  you  must  know  too  well.  It  is  to 
them  I  speak.  Were  you  never  not  merely  puzzled — 
all  thinkinsf  men  are  that — but  crushed  and  sickened  at 
moments  by  the  mystery  of  evil  ?  Sickened  by  the 
follies,  the  failures,  the  ferocities,  the  foulnesses  of 
mankind,  for  ages  upon  ages  past  ?  Sickened  by 
the  sins  of  the  unholy  many — sickened,  alas  !  by 
the  imperfections  even  of  the  holiest  few  ?  And 
have  you  never  cried  in  your  hearts  with  longing, 
almost  with  impatience.  Surely,  surely,  there  is  an 
ideal  Holy  One  somewhere,  or  else  how  could  have 
arisen  in  my  mind  the  conception,  however  faint,  of  an 
ideal  holiness  ?  But  where,  oh  where  ?  Not  in  the 
world  around,  strewed  with  unholiness.  Not  in  m3^self 
- — unlioly  too,  without  and  within — seeming  to  myself 
sometimes  the  very  worst  company  of  all  the  bad  com- 
pany I  meet,  because  it  is  the  only  bad  company  from 
which  I  cannot  escape.  Oh,  is  there  a  Holy  One,  whom 
I  may  contemplate  with  utter  delight  ?  and  if  so,  where 
is  He  ?  Oh,  that  I  might  behold,  if  but  for  a  moment. 
His  perfect  beauty,  even  though,  as  in  the  fable  of 
Semele  of  old,  the  lightning  of  His  glance  were  death. 
Nay,  more,  has  it  not  happened  to  some  here — to  clergy- 
man, lawyer,  physician,  perhaps,  alas  !  to  some  pure- 
minded,  noble-hearted  woman — to  be  brought  in  con- 
tact perforce  with  that  which  truly  sickens  them — with 
some  case  of  human  folly,  baseness,  foulness — which, 
however  much    their   soul    revolts    from    it,    they   must 


All  Saints  Day.  7 

handle,  they  must  toil  over  many  weeks  and  months,  in 
hope  that  that  which  is  crooked  may  be  made  somewhat 
straight,  till  their  whole  soul  was  distempered,  all  but 
degraded,  by  the  continual  sight  of  sin,  till  their  eyes 
seemed  full  of  nothing  but  the  dance  of  death,  and  their 
ears  of  the  gibbering  of  madmen,  and  their  nostrils  with 
the  odours  of  the  charnel  house,  and  they  longed  for  one 
breath  of  pure  air,  one  gleam  of  pure  light,  one  strain  of 
pure  music,  to  wash  their  spirits  clean  from  those  foul 
elements  into  which  their  duty  had  thrust  them  down 
perforce  ? 

And  then,  oh  then,  has  there  not  come  to  sucli  an  one 
— I  know  that  it  has  come — that  for  which  his  spirit 
was  athirst,  the  very  breath  of  pure  air,  the  very  gleam 
of  pure  light,  the  very  strain  of  pure  music,  for  it  is  the 
very  music  of  the  spheres,  in  those  same  words,  "  Holy, 
holy,  holy,  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  was,  and  is,  and  is 
to  come  ; "  and  he  has  answered,  with  a  flush  of  keenest 
joy.  Yes.  Whatever  else  is  unholy,  there  is  an  Holy 
One,  spotless  and  undefiled,  serene  and  self-contained. 
Whatever  else  I  cannot  trust,  there  is  One  whom  I 
can  trust  utterly.  Whatever  else  I  am  dissatisfied  with, 
there  is  One  whom  I  can  contemplate  with  utter  satis- 
faction, and  bathe  my  stained  soul  in  that  eternal 
fount  of  purity.  And  who  is  He  ?  Who  save  the 
Cause  and  Maker,  and  Ruler  of  all  things,  past,  present, 
and  to  come  ?  Ah,  Gospel  of  all  gospels,  that  God 
Himself,  the  Almighty  God,  is  the  eternal  and  unchange- 
able realisation  of  all  that  I  and  all  mankind,  in  our 
purest  and  our  noblest  moments,  have  ever  dreamed  con- 
cernino-  the  true,   the   beautiful,   and  the  good.      Even 


8  All  Saints  Day. 

tliough  He  slay  me,  the  unholy,  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him. 
For  He  is  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  and  can  do  nothing  to  me, 
or  any  creature^  save  what  He  ought.  For  He  has 
created  all  things,  and  for  His  pleasure  they  are  and 
were  created. 

Whosoever  has  entered,  though  but  for  a  moment, 
however  faintly,  partially,  stupidly,  into  that  thought 
of  thoughts,  has  entered  in  so  far  into  the  communion 
of  the  elect;  and  has  had  his  share  in  the  everlasting 
All  Saints'  Day  which  is  in  heaven.  He  has  been, 
though  but  for  a  moment,  in  harmony  with  the  polity 
of  the  Living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  ;  and  with 
an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  and  the  church  of 
the  first-born  who  are  written  in  heaven  ;  and  with  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  with  all  past, 
present,  and  to  come,  in  this  and  in  all  other  worlds, 
of  whom  it  is  written,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit : 
for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Blessed  are  they 
who  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness :  for  they  shall 
be  filled.  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart :  for  they  shall 
see  God.  Blessed  are  they  who  are  persecuted  for 
righteousness'  sake :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  Great  indeed  is  their  reward,  for  it  is  no  less 
than  the  very  beatific  vision  to  contem23late  and  adore. 
That  supreme  moral  beauty,  of  which  all  earthly  beauty, 
all  nature,  all  art,  all  poetry,  all  music,  are  but  phan- 
toms and  parables,  hints  and  hopes,  dim  reflected  rays  of 
the  clear  light  of  that  everlasting  day,  of  which  it  is 
written — that  ''  the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither 
of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it  :  for  the  glory  of  God  did 
lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof." 


PREPARATION    FOR    ADVEl^T. 

Westminster  Ahhey.     Novemher  15, 1874. 

Amos  iv.  12. 
** Prepare  to  meet  tliy  God,  0  Israel." 

We  read  to-day,  for  the  first  lesson,  parts  of  the  pro- 
phecy of  Amos.  They  are  somewhat  difficult,  here  and 
there,  to  understand ;  but  nevertheless  Amos  is  perhaps 
the  grandest  of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  next  to  Isaiah. 
Rough  and  homely  as  his  words  are,  there  is  a  strength, 
a  majesty,  and  a  terrible  earnestness  in  them,  which  it 
is  good  to  listen  to;  and  specially  good  now  that  Advent 
draws  near,  and  we  have  to  think  of  the  coming  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  what  His  coming  means. 
"Prepare  to  meet  thy  God,"  says  Amos  in  the  text. 
Perhaps  he  will  tell  us  how  to  meet  our  God. 

Amos  is  specially  the  poor  man's  prophet,  for  he  was  a 
poor  man  himself;  not  a  courtier  like  Isaiah,  or  a  priest 
like  Jeremiah,  or  a  sage  like  Daniel ;  but  a  herdsman 
and  a  gatherer  of  sycamore  fruit  in  Tekoa,  near  Beth- 
lehem, where  Amos  was  born.  Yet  to  this  poor  man, 
looking  after  sheep  and  cattle  on  the  downs,  and  ponder- 
ing on  the  wrongs  and  misery  around,  the  word  of  the 
Lord  came,  and  he  knew  that  God  had   spoken  to  him. 


I  o  Preparation  for  A dvent. 

and  that  he  must  go  and  speak  to  men,  at  the  risk  of 
his  life,  what  God  had  bidden,  against  all  the  nations 
round  and  their  kings,  and  against  the  king  and  nobles 
and  priests  of  Israel,  and  the  king  and  nobles  and  priests 
of  Judah,  and  tell  thorn  that  th^  day  of  the  Lord  is  at 
hand,  and  that  they  must  prepare  to  meet  their  God. 
And  he  said  what  he  felt  he  must  say  with  a  noble 
freedom,  with  a  true  independence  such  as  the  grace  of 
God  alone  can  give.  Amaziah,  the  priest  of  Bethel, 
who  was  worshiiDping  (absurd  as  it  may  seem  to  us) 
God  and  the  golden  calf  at  the  same  time  in  King 
Jeroboam's  court,  complained  loudly,  it  would  seem,  of 
Amos's  plain  speaking.  How  uncourteous  to  prophesy 
that  Jeroboam  should  die  by  the  sword,  and  Israel  be 
carried  captive  out  of  their  own  land  !  Let  him  go 
home  into  his  own  land  of  Judah,  and  prophesy  there  ; 
but  not  prophesy  at  Beth-el,  for  it ,  was  the  king's 
chapel  and  the  king's  court.  Amos  went,  I  presume, 
in  fear  of  his  life.  But  he  left  noble  words  behind  him. 
"I  was  no  j^i'^pliet,"  he  said  to  Amaziah,  ''nor  a 
prophet's  son,  but  a  herdsman,  and  a  gatherer  of  wild 
figs.  And  the  Lord  took  me  as  I  followed  the  flock, 
and  said,  Go,  prophesy  unto  my  people  Israel."  And 
then  he  turned  on  that  smooth  court-priest  Amaziah, 
and  pronounced  against  him,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
a  curse  too  terrible  to  be  repeated  here. 

Now  what  was  the  secret  of  this  inspired  herdsman's 
strength?  What  helped  him  to  face  priests,  nobles, 
and  kings  ?  What  did  he  believe  ?  What  did  he 
preach  ?  He  believed  and  preached  the  kingdom  of 
God  and    His    righteousness ;    the    simple  but  infinite 


Prepa7'ation  for  Advent,  1 1 

difference  between  right  and  wrong;  and  the  certain 
doom  of  wrong,  if  wrong  was  persisted  in.  He  believed 
in  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  told  the  kings  and  the 
people  of  all  the  nations  round,  that  they  had  com- 
mitted cruel  and  outrageous  sins,  not  against  the  Jews 
merely,  but  against  each  other.  In  the  case  of  Moab, 
the  culminating  crime  was  an  insult  to  the  dead.  He 
had  burned  the  bones  of  the  king  of  Edom  into  lime. 
In  the  case  of  Amnion,  it  was  brutal  cruelty  to  captive 
women ;  but  in  the  cases  of  Gaza,  of  Tyre,  and  of  Edom, 
it  was  slave-making  and  slave -trading  invasions  of 
Palestine.  ''  Thus  saith  the  Lord  :  For  three  trans- 
gressions of  Gaza,  and  for  four,  I  will  not  turn  away  the 
punishment  thereof;  because  they  carried  away  captive 
the  whole  captivity,  to  deliver  them  up  to  Edom.  But 
I  will  send  a  fire  upon  the  wall  of  Gaza,  which  shall 
devour  the  palaces  thereof" 

Yes.  Slave-hunting  and  slave-trading  wars — that 
was  and  is  an  iniquity  which  the  just  and  merciful 
Ruler  of  the  earth  would  not,  and  will  not,  pardon. 
And  honour  to  those  who,  as  in  Africa  of  late,  put  down 
those  foul  deeds,  wheresoever  they  are  done  ;  who,  at 
the  risk  of  their  own  lives,  dare  free  the  captives  from 
their  chains  ;  and  who,  if  interfered  with  in  their  pious 
work,  dare  execute  on  armed  murderers  and  manstealers 
the  vengeance  of  a  righteous  God.  For  the  Lord  God 
was  their  King,  and  their  Judge,  whether  they  knew  it 
or  not.  And  for  three  transgressions  of  theirs,  and  for 
four,  the  Lord  would  not  turn  away  their  punishment, 
but  would  send  fire  and  sword  among  them,  and  tliey 
should   be  earned   away  captive,   as   they   had   carried 


1 2  Preparation  for  A  dvent. 

others  away.  But  to  go  back.  Amos  next  turns  to  Hs 
own  countrymen — to  Judali  and  Israel,  who  were  then 
two  separate  nations.  For  three  transgressions  of  Judah, 
and  for  four,  the  Lord  would  not  turn  away  their  punish- 
ment, because  they  had  despised  the  law  of  the  Lord, 
and  had  not  walked  in  His  commandments.  Therefore 
He  would  send  a  fire  on  Judah,  and  it  should  devour 
the  palaces  of  Jerusalem.  But  Amos  is  most  bitter 
against  Israel,  against  the  court  of  King  Jeroboam  at 
Samaria,  and  against  the  rich  men  of  Israel,  the  bulls 
of  Bashan,  as  he  calls  them.  For  three  transgressions, 
and  for  four,  the  Lord  would  not  turn  away  their 
punishment.      And  why  ? 

Now  see  what  I  meant  when  I  said  that  Amos 
believed  not  only  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  but  in  the 
righteousness  of  God.  It  was  not  merely  that  they  w^ere 
worshipping  idols — golden  calves  at  Dan,  and  Beth-el, 
and  Samaria,  at  the  same  time  that  they  worshipped 
the  true  God.  That  was  bad,  but  there  was  more 
behind.  These  men  w^ere  bad,  proud,  luxurious,  cruel ; 
they  were  selling  their  countrymen  for  slaves — selling, 
he  says  so  twice,  as  if  it  was  some  notorious  and 
special  case,  an  honest  man  for  silver,  and  the  poor  for 
a  pair  of  shoes.  They  were  lying  down  on  clothes  taken 
on  pledge  by  every  altar.  They  were  breaking  the 
seventh  commandment  in  an  abominable  way.  They 
were  falsifying  weights  and  measures,  and  selling  the 
refuse  of  the  wheat.  They  stored  up  the  fruits  of 
"violence  and  robbery  in  their  palaces.  They  hated 
him  who  rebuked  them,  and  abhorred  him  that  spoke 
uprightly.      They  trod  upon  the  poor  and  crushed   the 


Preparation  for  Advent.  1 3 

needy,  and  then  said  to  their  stewards,  "  Bring  wine, 
and  let  us  drink."  Therefore  though  they  had  built 
houses  of  hewn  stone,  they  should  not  live  in  them. 
They  had  planted  pleasant  vineyards,  but  should  not 
drink  of  them.  And  all  the  while  these  superstitious 
and  wicked  rich  men  were  talking  of  the  day  of  the 
Lord,  and  hoping  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  would 
appear. 

You,  if  you  have  read  your  Bibles  carefully  and 
reverently,  must  surely  be  aware  that  the  day  of  the 
Lord,  either  in  the  Old  Testament  or  in  the  New,  does 
not  mean  merely  the  final  day  of  judgment,  but  any  strik- 
ing event,  any  great  crisis  in  the  world's  history,  which 
throws  a  divine  light  upon  that  history,  and  shows  to 
men — at  least  to  those  who  have  eyes  wherewith  to  see 
— that  verily  there  is  a  God  who  judges  the  earth  in 
righteousness,  and  ministers  true  judgment  among  the 
people  ;- — a  God  whom  men,  and  all  their  institutions, 
should  always  be  prepared  to  meet,  lest  coming  sud- 
denly. He  find  them  sleeping.  If  you  are  not  aware  of 
this,  the  real  meaning  of  a  day  of  the  Lord,  a  day  of 
the  Son  of  Man,  let  me  entreat  you  to  go  and  search 
the  Scriptures  for  yourselves  ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye 
have  eternal  life,  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  the 
Lord,  of  that  Eternal  Son  of  whom  the  second  Psalm 
speaks,  in  words  which  mobs  and  tyrants,  the  atheist 
and  the  superstitious,  are  alike  willing  to  forget. 

In  the  time  of  Amos,  the  rich  tyrants  of  Israel 
seem  to  have  meant  by  the  day  of  the  Lord  some 
vague  hope  that,  in  those  dark  and  threatening  times, 
God  would  interfere  to  save  them,  if  they  were  attacked 


]  4  Preparatio7i  foi^  Advent. 

by  foreign  armies.  But  woe  to  you  that  desire  the  day 
of  the  Lord,  says  Amos  the  herdsman.  What  do  you 
want  with  it  ?  You  will  find  it  very  different  from 
-  what  you  expect.  There  is  a  day  of  the  Lord  coming, 
he  says,  therefore  prepare  to  meet  your  God.  But  you 
are  unprepared,  and  you  will  find  the  day  of  the  Lord 
very  different  from  what  you  expect.  It  Avill  be  a  day 
in  which  you  will  learn  the  righteousness  of  God.  Be- 
cause He  is  righteous  He  Avill  not  suffer  your  unrigliteous- 
ness.  Because  He  is  good,  He  will  not  permit  you  to 
be  bad.  The  day  of  the  Lord  to  you  will  be  darkness 
and  not  light,  not  as  you  dream  deliverance  from  the 
invaders,  but  ruin  by  the  invaders,  from  which  will  be 
no  escape.  ''As  if  a  man  did  flee  from  a  lion,  and  a  bear 
met  him  ;  or  went  into  the  house  and  leaned  his  hand 
on  the  wall,  and  a  serpent  bit  him."  There  will  be  no 
escape  for  those  wicked  men.  Though  they  dug  into 
hell,  God's  hand  would  take  them  ;  though  they  climbed 
up  into  heaven,  God  would  fetcli  them  down  ;  though 
they  hid  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  God  would  command 
the  serpent,  and  it  should  bite  them.  He  would  sift 
the  house  of  Israel  among  all  nations  like  corn  in  a 
sieve,  and  not  a  grain  should  fall  to  the  earth.  And  all 
the  sinners  among  God's  peo2:)le  should  die  by  the  sword, 
who  say,  ''  The  evil  shall  not  overtake  us." 

This  was  Amos's  notion  of  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
His  righteousness.  These  Israelites  would  not  obey  the 
laws  of  God's  kingdom,  and  be  righteous  and  good. 
But  Amos  told  them,  they  could  not  get  rid  of  God's 
kingdom.  The  Lord  was  King,  in  spite  of  them,  and 
they  would  find  it  out  to  their  sorrow.      If  they  would 


P7'eparation  for  Adveitt.  15 

not  seek  His  kingdom  and  His  government,  His  govern- 
ment would  seek  them  and  find  them,  and  find  their 
evil-doings  out.  If  they  would  not  seek  God's  righteous- 
ness, His  righteousness  would  seek  them,  and  execute 
righteous  judgment  on  them.  No  wonder  that  the 
Israelites  thought  Amos  a  most  troublesome  and  insolent 
person.  No  wonder  that  the  smooth  priest  Amaziah 
begged  him  to  begone  and  talk  in  that  way  somewhere 
else.  He  saw  plainly  enough  that  either  Amos  must 
leave  Samaria,  or  he  must  leave  it.  The  two  could  no 
more  work  together  than  fire  and  water.  Amos  wanted 
to  make  men  repent  of  their  sins,  while  Amaziah  wanted 
only  to  make  them  easy  in  their  minds  ;  and  no  man 
can  do  both  at  once. 

So  it  was  then,  my  friends,  and  so  it  will  be  till  the 
end  of  this  wicked  world.  The  way  to  please  men,  and 
be  popular,  always  was,  and  always  will  be,  Amaziah's 
way ;  to  tell  men  that  they  may  worship  God  and  the 
golden  calf  at  the  same  time,  that  they  may  worship 
God  and  money,  woi^hip  God  and  follow  the  ways  of 
this  wicked  world  which  suit  their  fancy  and  their 
interest ;  to  tell  them  the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  over 
you  now,  Christ  is  not  ruling  the  world  now ;  that  the 
kingdom  of  God  will  only  come,  when  Christ  comes  at 
the  last  day,  and  meanwhile,  if  people  will  only  believe 
what  they  are  told,  and  live  tolerably  respectable  lives, 
they  may  behave  in  all  things  else  as  if  there  was  no 
God,  and  no  judgments  of  God.  Seeking  the  righteous- 
ness of  God,  say  these  preachers  of  Amaziah's  school, 
only  means,  that  if  Christ's  righteousness  is  imputed  to 
you,  you  need  not  be  righteous  yourselves,  but  will  go 


1 6  Preparation  for  A  dvent, 

to  heaven  without  having  been  good  men  here  on  eartk 
That  is  the  comfortable  message  which  the  world  delights 
to  hear,  and  for  which  the  world  will  pay  a  high  price  to 
its  flatterers. 

But  if  any  man  dares  to  tell  his  fellowmen  what  Amos 
told  them,  and  say,  The  kingdom  of  God  is  among  you, 
and  within  you,  and  over  you,  whether  you  like  or  not, 
and  you  are  in  it ;  the  Lord  is  King,  be  the  people  never 
so  unquiet;  and  all  power  is  given  to  Him  in  heaven  and 
earth  already;  and  at  the  last  great  day,  when  He  comes 
in  glory,  He  will  show  that  He  has  been  governing  the 
world  and  the  inhabitants  thereof  all  along,  whether 
they  cared  to  obey  Him  or  not : — if  he  tell  men,  that 
the  righteousness  of  God  means  this — to  pray  for  the 
Spirit  of  God  and  of  Christ,  that  they  may  be  perfect  as 
their  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect,  and  holy  as  Christ  is 
holy,  for  without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord  :  if 
he  tell  men,  that  the  wrath  of  God  was  revealed  from 
heaven  at  the  fall  of  man,  and  has  been  revealed  con- 
tinuously ever  since,  against  ail  ungodliness  and  un- 
righteousness of  men,  that  indignation  and  wrath,  tribu- 
lation and  anguish  will  fall  upon  every  soul  of  man  that 
doeth  evil  ;  and  glory,  honour,  and  peace  to  every  man 
that  worketh  good  : — when  a  man  dares  to  preach  that, 
he  is  no  more  likely  to  be  popular  with  the  wicked 
world  (for  it  is  a  wicked  world)  than  Amos  was  popular, 
or  St  Paul  was  popular,  or  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
gave  both  to  Amos  and  to  St  Paul  their  messages,  was 
popular.  False  preachers  will  dislike  that  man,  because 
he  wishes  to  make  sinners  uneasy,  while  they  wish  to 
make  them  easy.       Philosophers,  falsely  so-called,   will 


Preparation  for  Advent,  17 

dislike  that  man,  because  he  talks  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  the  providence  of  God,  and  they  are  busy — at 
least,  JTist  now — in  telling  men  that  there  is  no  provi- 
dence and  no  God — at  least,  no  living  God.  The 
covetous  and  worldly  will  dislike  that  man,  for  they 
believe  that  the  world  is  governed,  not  by  God,  but  by 
money.  Politicians  will  dislike  that  man,  because  they 
think  that  not  God,  but  they,  govern  the  world,  by  those 
very  politics  and  knavish  tricks,  which  we  pray  God  to 
confound,  whenever  we  sing  "  God  save  the  Queen." 
And  the  common  people — the  masses — who  ought  to 
hear  such  a  man  gladly,  for  his  words  are  to  them,  if 
they  would  understand  them,  a  gospel,  and  good  news 
of  divine  hope  and  deliverance  from  sin  and  ignorance, 
oppression  and  misery — the  masses,  I  say,  will  dislike 
that  man,  because  he  tells  them  that  God's  will  is  law, 
and  must  be  obeyed  at  all  risks  :  and  the  poor  fools 
have  got  into  their  heads  just  now  that  not  God's  will, 
but  the  will  of  the  people,  is  law,  and  that  not  the 
eternal  likeness  of  God,  but  whatever  they  happen  to 
decide  by  the  majority  of  the  moment,  is  right. 

And  so  such  a  preacher  will  not  be  popular  with  the 
many.  They  will  dismiss  him,  at  best,  as  they  miglTt  a 
public  siuger  or  lecturer,  with  compliments  and  thanks, 
and  so  excuse  themselves  from  doing  what  he  tells  them. 
And  he  must  look  for  his  sincere  hearers  in  the  hearts  of 
those — and  there  are  such,  I  verily  believe,  in  this  con- 
gregation— who  have  a  true  love  and  a  true  fear  of 
Christ,  their  incarnate  God — who  believe,  indeed,  that 
Christ  is  their  King,  and  the  King  of  all  the  earth ;  who 
think  that  to  please  Him  is  the  most  blessed,  as  well  as 


1 8  Preparation  for  Advent, 

the  most  profitable,  thing  which  inan  can  do  ;  to  dis- 
please Him  the  most  horrible,  as  well  as  the  most  danger- 
ous, thing  which  man  can  do;  and  who,  therefore,  try 
to  please  Him  b}^  becoming  like  Him,  by  really  renounc- 
ing the  world  and  all  its  mean  and  false  and  selfish 
ways,  and  putting  on  His  new  pattern  of  man,  which  is 
created  after  God's  likeness  in  righteousness  and  true 
holiness.  Blessed  are  they,  for  of  them  it  is  written, 
"  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  right- 
eousness, for  they  shall  be  filled."  Even  Christ  Himself 
shall  fill  them.  Blessed  are  they,  and  all  that  they  take 
in  hand,  for  of  them  it  is  written,  "■  Blessed  are  all  they 
that  fear  the  Lord,  and  walk  in  His  ways.  For  thou 
shalt  eat  the  labours  of  thine  hands."  "  The  Lord  is 
righteous  in  all  His  ways,  and  holy  in  all  His  works. 
The  Lord  is  nigh  unto  all  them  that  call  upon  Him, 
yea,  all  such  as  call  upon  Him  faithfully.  He  will  fulfil 
the  desire  of  them  that  fear  Him.  He  also  will  hear 
their  cry  " — ay,  ''  and  will  help  them." 

Happy,  ay,  blest  will  such  souls  be,  let  the  day  of  the 
Lord  appear  when  it  will,  or  how  it  will.  It  may 
appear — the  day  of  the  Lord,  as  it  has  appeared  again 
and  again  in  history — in  the  thunder  of  some  mighty 
w^ar.  It  may  appear  after  some  irresistible,  though  often 
silent  revolution,  whether  religious  or  intellectual,  social 
or  political.  It  will  appear  at  last,  as  that  great  day  of 
days,  which  will  conclude,  so  we  believe,  the  drama  of 
human  history,  and  all  men  shall  give  account  for  their 
o^vn  works.  But,  however  and  whenever  it  shall  appear, 
they  at  least  will  watch  its  dawning,  neither  with  the 
selfish   assurance   of  modern  Pharisaism,   nor   with  the 


Preparation  for  Advent,  19 

abject  terror  of  mediaeval  superstition  ;  but  with  that 
manful  faith  with  which  he  who  sang  the  98th  Psalm 
saw  the  day  of  the  Lord  dawn  once  in  the  far  east,  more 
than  two  thousand  years  ago,  and  cried  with  solemn  joy, 
in  the  glorious  words  which  you  havw  just  heard  sung — 
words  which  the  Church  of  England  has  embodied  in  her 
daily  evening  service,  in  order,  I  presume,  to  show  her 
true  children  how  they  ought  to  look  at  days  of  judg- 
ment ;   and  so  prepare  to  meet  their  God  : — 

'^  Show  yourselves  joyful  unto  the  Lord,  all  ye  lauds  : 
sing,  rejoice,  and  give  thanks. 

"  Let  the  sea  make  a  noise,  and  all  that  therein  is ; 
the  round  world,  and  they  that  dwell  therein. 

''  Let  the  floods  clap  their  hands,  and  let  the  hills  bft 
joyful  together  before  the  Lord  :  for  He  cometli  to  judge 
the  earth. 

^'  With  righteousness  shall  He  judge  the  world  :  and 
the  people  with  equity. 

''  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the 
Holy  Ghost ; 

"As  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now  and  ever  shall 
be,  world  without  end.     Amen." 


SERMON    IIL 

THE    PURIFYING    HOPE. 

Eversley,  1869.     Windsor  Castle,  1869. 

1  John  iii.  2. 

"  Beloved,  now  are  we  tlie  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  wliat 
we  shall  be  :  but  we  know  that,  when  he  shall  appear,  we  shall  be 
like  him ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  And  every  man  that  hath 
this  hope  in  him  purifieth  himself,  even  as  he  is  pure." 

Let  us  consider  this  noble  text,  and  see  something,  at 
least,  of  what  it  has  to  tell  us.  It  is,  like  all  God's 
messages,  all  God's  laws,  ay,  like  God's  world  in  which 
we  live  and  breathe,  at  once  beautiful  and  awful ;  full 
of  life-giving  hope;  but  full,  too,  of  chastening  fear. 
Hope  for  the  glorious  future  which  it  opens  to  poor 
human  beings  like  as  ;  fear,  lest  so  great  a  promise  be- 
ing left  us,  we  should  fall  short  of  it  by  our  own  fault. 
Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed 
on  us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons  of  God. 

There  is  the  root  and  beginning  of  all  Christianity, — 
of  all  true  religion.  We  are  the  sons  of  God,  and  the  in- 
finite, absolute,  eternal  Being  who  made  this  world,  and 
all  worlds,  is  our  Father.  We  are  the  children  of  God. 
It  is  not  for  us  to  say  who  are  not  God's  children.  That 
is  God's  concern,  not  ours.  All  that  we  have  to  do  with,  is 
the  awful  and  blessed  fact  that  we  are.    We  were  baptised 


The  Purifying  Hope.  2 1 

into  God's  kingdom,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Let  us  believe  the  Gospel 
and  good  news  which  baptism  brings  us,  and  say  each  of 
us  ; — Not  for  our  own  goodness  and  deserving  ;  not  for 
our  own  faith  or  assurance  ;  not  for  anything  which  we 
have  thought,  felt,  or  done,  but  simply  out  of  the  free 
grace  and  love  of  God,  seeking  out  us  unconscious  infants, 
we  are  children  of  God.  "  Beloved  now  are  we  the  sons 
of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be." 
It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  the  next  life  will  be  like,  or 
what  we  shall  be  like  in  it.  That  there  will  be  a  next  life, 
— that  death  does  not  end  all  for  us,  the  New  Testament 
tells  us.  Yea,  our  own  hearts  and  reasons  tell  us.  That 
sentiment  of  immortality,  that  instinct  that  the  death  of 
our  body  will  not,  cannot  destroy  our  souls,  or  ourselves 
— all  men  have  had  that,  except  a  few ;  and  it  is  a 
question  whether  they  had  it  not  once,  and  have  only 
lost  it  by  giving  way  to  their  brute  animal  nature.  But 
be  that  as  it  may,  it  concerns  us,  I  think,  very  little. 
For  we  at  least  believe  that  we  shall  live  again.  That 
we  shall  live  again  in  some  state  or  other,  is  as  certain 
to  our  minds  as  it  was  to  the  minds  of  our  forefathers, 
even  while  they  were  heathens  ;  as  certain  to  us  as  it  is 
that  we  are  alive  now.  But  in  that  future  state,  what  we 
shall  be  like,  we  know  not.  St.  John  says  that  he  did 
not  know ;  and  we  certainly  have  no  more  means  of 
knowing  than  St.  John. 

Therefore  let  us  not  feed  our  fancies  with  pictures  of 
what  the  next  world  will  be  like, — pictures,  I  say,  which 
are  but  waking  dreams  of  men,  intruding  into  those 
things  which   they  have  not  seen,  vainly  puffed   up   in 


2  2  The  Purifying  Hope. 

their  fleshly  minds — that  is  in  their  animal  and  mortal 
brain.  Let  us  be  content  with  what  St.  John  tells  us, 
which  is  a  matter  not  for  our  brains,  but  for  our  hearts  ; 
not  for  our  imaginations,  but  for  our  conscience,  which 
is  indeed  our  highest  reason.  Whatever  we  do  not 
know  about  the  next  world,  this,  he  says,  we  do  know, — 
that  when  God  in  Christ  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like 
Him.  Like  God.  No  more  :  No  :  but  no  less.  To 
be  like  God,  it  appears,  is  the  very  end  and  aim  of  our 
being.  That  we  might  be  like  God,  God  our  Father 
sent  us  forth  from  His  eternal  bosom,  which  is  the 
ground  of  all  life,  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  That  we 
might  be  like  God,  He  clothed  us  in  mortal  flesh,  and 
sent  us  into  this  world  of  sense.  That  we  might  be  like 
God,  He  called  us,  from  our  infancy,  into  His  Church. 
That  we  might  be  like  God,  He  gave  us  the  divine 
sense  of  right  and  wrong  ;  and  more,  by  the  inspiration 
of  His  holy  spirit,  that  inward  witness,  that  Light  of 
God,  which  lightens  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world,  He  taught  us  to  love  the  right  and  hate  the 
wrong.  That  we  might  be  like  God,  God  is  educating 
us  from  our  cradle  to  our  grave,  by  every  event,  even  the 
smallest,  which  happens  to  us.  That  we  might  be  like 
God,  it  is  in  God  that  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our 
being ;  that  as  the  raindrop  which  falls  from  heaven, 
rises  again  surely,  soon  or  late,  to  heaven  again  ;  so  each 
soul  of  man,  coming  forth  from  God  at  first,  should  return 
again  to  God,  as  many  of  them  as  have  eternal  life, 
having  become  like  to  God  from  whom  it  came  at  first. 
And  how  shall  we  become  like  God?  or  rather  like  Christ 
who  is  both  God  and   man  ?     To  become  like  God  the 


The  Purifying  Hope.  2  3 

Father, — that  is  impossible  for  finite  and  created  beings 
as  we  are.  But  to  become  somewhat,  at  least,  like  God 
the  Son,  like  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  who  is  the  brightness 
of  His  Father's  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  His  person, 
that  is  not  impossible.  For  He  has  revealed  Himself  as 
a  man,  in  the  soul  and  body  of  a  man,  that  our  sinful 
soLils  might  be  made  like  His  pure  soul ;  our  sinful  bodies 
like  His  glorious  body;  and  that  so  He  might  be  the  first 
born  among  many  brethren.  And  how  ?  *'  We  know 
that  when  He  appears,  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we 
shall  see  Him  as  He  is." 

For  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.       Herein  is  a  OTeat 

o 

mystery,  and  one  which  I  do  not  pretend  to  fathom. 
Only  this  I  can  try  to  do — to  shew  how  it  may  seem 
possible  and  reasonable,  from  what  is  called  analogy, 
that  is  by  judging  of  an  unknown  thing  from  a  known 
thing,  which  is,  at  least,  something  like  it.  Now  do 
we  not  all  know  how  apt  we  are  to  become  like  those 
whom  we  see,  with  whom  we  spend  our  hours — and, 
above  all,  like  those  whom  we  admire  and  honour  ? 
For  good  and.  for  evil,  alas  !  For  evil — for  those  who 
associate  with  evil  or  frivolous  persons  are  too  apt  to 
catch  not  only  their  low  tone,  but  their  very  manner, 
their  very  expression  of  face,  speaking,  and  thinking,  and 
acting.  Not  only  do  they  become  scornful,  if  they  live 
with  scorners  ;  false,  if  they  live  with  liars  ;  mean,  if  they 
live  with  covetous  men;  but  they  will  actually  catch  the 
very  look  of  their  faces.  The  companions  of  affected, 
frivolous  people,  men  or  women,  grow  to  look  affected 
and  frivolous.  Indulging  in  the  same  passions,  they 
mould  their  own  countenances  and  their  very  walk,  also 


24  The  Purifying  Hope. 

the  very  tones  of  their  voice,  as  well  as  their  dress,  into 
the  likeness  of  those  with  whom  they  associate,  nay,  of 
those  whose  fashions  (as  they  are  called)  they  know 
merely  by  books  and  pictures.  But  thank  God,  who  has 
put  into  the  hearts  of  Christian  people  the  tendency 
towards  God — just  in  the  same  way  does  good  company 
tend  to  make  men  good  ;  high-minded  company  to  make 
them  high-minded ;  kindly  company  to  make  them 
kindly  ;  modest  company  to  make  them  modest ;  honour- 
able company  to  make  them  honourable  ;  and  pure  com- 
pany to  make  them  pure.  If  the  young  man  or  woman 
live  with  such,  look  up  to  such  as  their  ideal,  that  is, 
the  pattern  which  they  ought  to  emulate — then,  as  a 
fact,  the  Spirit  of  God  working  in  them  does  mould 
them  into  something  of  the  likeness  of  those  whom  they 
admire  and  love.  I  have  lived  long  enough  to  see  more 
than  one  man  of  real  genius  stamp  his  own  character, 
thought,  even  his  very  manner  of  speaking,  for  good  or 
for  evil,  on  a  whole  school  or  party  of  his  disciples.  It 
has  been  said,  and  truly,  I  believe,  that  children  cannot 
be  brought  up  among  beautiful  pictures, — I  believe,  even 
among  any  beautiful  sights  and  sounds, — without  the 
very  expression  of  their  faces  becoming  more  beautiful, 
purer,  gentler,  nobler  ;  so  that  in  them  are  fulfilled  the 
words  of  the  great  and  holy  Poet  concerning  the  maiden 
brought  up  according  to  God,  and  the  laws  of  God — 

"  And  she  shall  bend  her  ear 
In  many  a  secret  place, 
Where  rivulets  dance  their  wayward  round, 
And  beauty,  born  of  murmuring  sound, 
Shall  pass  into  her  face." 

But  if  mere  human  beings  can  have  this  "  personal 


The  Purifying  Hope.  2  5 

influence,"  as  it  is  called,  over  each  others'  characters,  if 
even  inanimate  things,  if  they  be  beautiful,  can  have  it — 
what  must  be  the  personal  influence  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  ?  Of  Him,  who  is  the  Man  of  all  men,  the  Son 
of  Man,  the  perfect  and  ideal  Man — and  more,  who  is 
very  God  of  very  God  ;  the  Author  of  all  life,  power, 
wisdom,  genius,  in  every  human  being,  whether  they 
use  to  good,  or  abuse  to  ill.  His  divine  gifts  ;  the 
Author,  too,  of  all  natural  beauty,  from  the  sun  over 
our  heads  to  the  flower  beneath  our  feet  ?  Think  of  that 
steadily,  accurately,  rationally.  Think  of  who  Christ  is, 
and  what  Christ  is — and  then  think  what  His  personal 
influence  must  be — quite  infinite,  boundless,  miraculous. 
So  that  the  very  blessedness  of  heaven  will  not  be  merely 
the  sight  of  our  Lord  ;  it  will  be  the  being  made  holy,  and 
kept  holy,  by  that  sight.  If  only  we  be  fit  for  it.  For  let 
us  ask  ourselves  the  question, — If  St  John's  words  come 
true  of  us,  if  we  should  see  Him  as  He  is,  would  the  sight  of 
His  all-glorious  countenance  warm  us  into  such  life,  love, 
longing  for  virtue  and  usefulness,  as  we  never  felt  before? 
Or  would  it  crush  us  into  the  very  earth  with  utter 
shame  and  humiliation,  full  and  awful  knowledge  of  how 
weak  and  foolish,  sinful  and  unworthy  we  were  ? — as 
it  does  to  Gerontius  in  the  poem,  when  he  dreams  that, 
after  death,  he  demanded,  rashly  and  ambitiously,  to  see 
oiir  Lord,  and  had  his  wish. 

That  is  the  question  which  every  one  must  try  to 
answer  for  himself  in  fear  and  trembling,  for,  he  that 
hath  this  hope  in  Him  purifieth  himself,  even  as  He  is 
pure.  The  common  sense  of  men — which  is  often  their 
conscience  and  highest  reason — has  taught  them  this, 


26  The  PiLvifyiiig  Hope. 

more  or  less  clearly,  in  all  countries  and  all  ages.  There 
are  very  few  religions  which  have  not  made  purifying  of 
some  kind  a  part  of  their  duty.  The  very  savage,  when 
he  enters  (as  he  fancies)  the  presence  of  his  god,  will 
wash  and  adorn  himself  that  he  may  be  fit,  poor  creature, 
for  meeting  the  paltry  god  which  he  has  invented  out 
of  his  ovrn  brain  ;  and  he  is  right  as  far  as  he  goes. 
The  Englishman,  when  he  dresses  himself  in  his  best  to 
go  to  church,  obeys  the  same  reasonable  instinct.  And, 
indeed,  is  not  holy  baptism  a  sign  that  this  instinct  is  a 
true  one  ? — that  if  God  be  pure,  he  who  enters  the  pre- 
sence of  God  must  purify  himself,  even  as  God  is  pure  ? 
Else  why,  when  each  person,  whether  infant  or  adult,  is 
received  into  Christ's  Church,  is  washing  with  water, 
whether  by  sprinkling,  as  now,  or,  as  of  old,  by  immersion, 
the  very  sign  and  sacrament  of  his  being  received  into 
God's  kingdom  ?  The  instinct,  I  say,  is  reasonable,  and 
has  its  root  in  the  very  heart  of  man.  Whatsoever  we 
respect  and  admire  we  shall  also  try  to  copy,  if  it  be 
only  for  a  time,  If  we  are  going  into  the  presence  of  a 
wiser  man  than  ourselves,  we  shall  surely  recollect  and 
summon  up  what  little  wisdom  or  knowledge  we  may 
have  ;  if  into  the  presence  of  a  holier  person,  we  shall 
try  to  call  up  in  ourselves  those  better  and  more  serious 
thoughts  which  we  so  often  forget,  that  we  may  be,  even 
for  a  few  minutes,  fit  for  that  good  company.  And  if 
we  go  into  the  presence  of  a  purer  person  than  ourselves, 
we  shall  surely  (unless  we  be  base  and  brutal)  call  up 
our  purest  and  noblest  thoughts,  and  try  to  purify  our- 
selves, even  as  they  are  pure.  It  is  true  what  poets 
have  said  again  and  again,  that  there  are  women  whose 


The  Purifying  Hope.  2  7 

mere  presence,  whose  mere  look,  drives  all  bad  thoughts 
away — women  before  whom  men  dare  no  more  speak,  or 
act,  nay,  even  think,  basely,  than  they  would  dare  before 
the  angels  of  God. 

But  if  it  be  so — and  so  it  is — what  must  we  be,  to  be 
fit  to  appear  before  Him  who  is  Purity  itself? — before 
that  spotless  Christ  in  whom  is  no  sin  and  who  knows 
what  is  in  man  ;  who  is  quick  and  piercing  as  a  two- 
edged  sword,  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  the  joints 
and  marrow,  so  that  all  things  are  naked  and  open  in 
the  sight  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do  ?  What 
purity  can  we  bring  into  His  presence  which  will 
not  seem  impure  to  Him  ?  What  wisdom  which  will 
not  seem  folly  ?  What  humility  which  will  not  seem 
self-conceit?  What  justice  which  will  not  seem  unjust? 
What  love  which  will  not  seem  hardness  of  heart,  in  the 
sight  of  Him  who  charges  His  angels  with  folly,  and  the 
very  heavens  are  not  clean  in  His  sight  ?  Who  loved 
Him  better,  and  whom  did  He  love  better,  than  St  John? 
Yet,  what  befel  St  John  when,  in  the  spirit,  he  saw  Him 
even  somewhat  as  He  is  ? — "  And  I  fell  at  His  feet  as 
dead."  If  St  John  himself  was  struck  down  with  awe,  what 
shall  we  feel,  even  the  best  and  purest  among  us  ?  All 
we  can  do  is  to  cast  ourselves,  now  and  for  ever,  in  life, 
in  death,  and  in  the  day  of  judgment,  on  His  boundless 
mercy  and  love — who  stooped  from  heaven  to  die  for 
us — and  cry,  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner. 

Therefore,  I  have  many  fears  for  some  who  are  ready 
enough  to  talk  of  their  fulness  of  hope  and  their  assur- 
ance of  salvation,  and  to  join  in  hymns  which  express 
weariness  of  this  life  and  longings  for  the  joys  of  heaven, 


28  The  Purifying  Hope, 

and  prayers  that  they  may  depart  and  be  with  Christ.  If 
they  are  not  in  earnest  in  such  words  they  mock  God ; 
but  if  they  are  in  earnest,  some  of  them,  I  fear  much, 
tempt  God.  What  if  He  took  them  at  their  word? 
What  if  He  gave  them  their  wish  ?  What  if  they  de- 
parted and  entered  the  presence  of  Christ,  only  to  meet 
with  a  worse  fate  than  that  of  Gerontius  ?  Only  to  be 
overwhelmed  with  shame  and  terror,  because,  though 
they  have  been  talking  of  being  with  Christ,  they  have 
not  been  trying  to  be  like  Christ ;  because  they  have  not 
sought  after  holiness,  without  which  no  man  shall  see 
the  Lord ;  because  they  have  not  tried  to  purify  them- 
selves, even  as  He  is  pure ;  and  have,  poor,  heedless  souls, 
gone  out  of  the  world,  with  all  their  sins  upon  their 
head,  to  enter  a  place  for  which  they  will  find  themselves 
utterly  unfit,  because  it  is  a  place  into  which  nothiug 
can  enter  which  defileth,  or  committeth  abomination,  or 
maketh  a  lie,  and  from  which  the  covetous  are  specially 
excluded  ;  and  in  which  will  be  fulfilled  the  parable  of 
the  man  who  came  to  the  feast,  not  having  on  a  wedding 
garment, — Take  him,  bind  him  hand  and  foot,  and  cast 
him  into  the  outer  darkness.  There  shall  be  wailing 
and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

Assurance,  my  friends,  may  be  reasonable  enough  when 
it  is  founded  on  repentance  and  hatred  of  evil,  and  love 
and  practice  of  what  is  good.  But,  again,  assurance  may 
be  as  unreasonable  as  it  is  oflfensive.  We  blame  a  man 
who  has  too  much  assurance  about  earthly  things.  Let 
us  beware  that  we  have  not  too  much  assurance  about 
heavenly  things.  For  our  assurance  will  surely  be  too 
great,  unreasonable,  built  upon  the  sand,  if  it  be  built  on 


The  Purifying  Hope.  29 

mere  self-conceit  of  our  own  orthodoxy,  and  our  own 
privileges,  or  our  own  special  connection  with  God. 

Meanwhile  it  has  heen  my  comfort  to  meet  with  some 
— would  God  they  were  more  numerous — who,  instead 
of  talking  of  their  assurance  of  salvation,  lived  in  a  state 
of  noble  self-discontent  and  holy  humility  ;  who  could  see 
nothing  but  their  own  faults  and  failings  ;  who,  though 
they  were  holier  than  others,  considered  themselves  as 
unholy  ;  though  they  were  doing  more  good  than  others, 
thought  themselves  useless  ;  whose  standard  of  duty  was 
so  lofty,  that  they  could  think  of  nothing,  but  how  far 
they  had  failed  in  reaching  it ;  who  measured  themselves, 
not  by  other  men,  but  by  Christ  Himself;  and,  doing  that, 
had  nought  to  say,  save,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sin- 
ner." And  for  such  people  I  have  had  full  assurance,  just 
because  they  had  no  assurance  themselves.  And  I  have 
said  in  my  heart,  These  are  worthy,  just  because  they 
think  themselves  unworthy.  These  are  fit  to  appear  in 
the  presence  of  God,  just  because  they  believe  themselves 
unfit.  These  are  they  who  will  cry  at  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, in  wondering  humility, — Lord,  when  saw  we  Thee 
hungry,  or  thirsty,  or  naked,  or  in  prison,  and  visited 
Thee  ?  And  will  receive  for  answer, — ''  Inasmuch  as  ye 
have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren, 
ye  have  done  it  unto  Me."  "  Thou  hast  been  faithful 
over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many 
things.       Enter  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

To  which  end  may  God  of  His  mercy  bring  us,  and 
all  we  love.     Amen. 


SEBMOK  IV. 

THE  LORD  COMING  TO  HIS  TEMPLE, 

Westminster  Abbey.    November,  1874. 

Malachi  iii.  1,  2. 

**  The  Lord,  whom  ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to  His  temple.  .  .  . 
But  who  may  abide  the  day  of  His  coming  ?  and  who  shall  stand 
when  He  appeareth  ?  for  He  is  like  a  refiner's  fire,  and  like  fuller's 
sope." 

We  believe  tliat  this  prophecy  was  fulfilled  at  the  first 
coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  believe  that  it 
will  be  fulfilled  again,  in  that  great  day  when  He  shall 
judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.  But  it  is  of  neither  of 
these  events  I  wish  to  speak  to  you  just  now.  I  wish 
to  speak  of  an  event  which  has  not  (as  far  as  we  know) 
happened;  which  will  probably  never  happen;  but  which 
is  still  perfectly  possible ;  and  one,  too,  which  it  is  good 
for  us  to  face  now  and  then,  and  ask  ourselves,  If  this 
thing  came  to  pass,  what  should  I  think,  and  what 
should  I  do  ? 

I  shall  touch  the  question  with  all  reverence  and 
caution.  I  shall  try  to  tread  lightly,  as  one  who  is  in- 
deed on  hallowed  ground.  For  the  question  which  I 
have  dared  to  ask  you  and  myself  is  none  other  than 
this — If  the  Lord  suddenly  came  to  this  temple,  or  any 
other  in  this  land ;   if  He   appeared   among   us,  as  He 


The  Loi'd  Coming  to  His  Temple.  31 

did  in  Judea  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  what  should 
we  think  of  Him  ?  Should  we  recognise,  or  should  we 
reject,  our  Saviour  and  our  Lord  ?  It  is  an  awful 
thought,  the  more  we  look  at  it.  But  for  that  very 
reason  it  may  be  the  more  fit  to  be  asked,  once  aud 
for  all. 

Now,  to  put  this  question  safely  and  honestly,  we 
must  keep  within  those  words  which  I  just  said — as  He 
appeared  in  Judea  eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  We 
must  limit  our  fancy  to  the  historic  Christ,  to  the 
sayings,  doings,  character  which  are  handed  down  to  us 
in  the  four  Gospels  ;  and  ask  ourselves  nothing  but — 
What  should  I  think  if  such  a  personage  were  to  meet 
me  now  ?  To  imagine  Him — as  has  been  too  often 
done — as  doing  deeds,  speaking  words,  and  even  worse, 
entertaining  motives,  which  are  not  written  in  the  four 
Gospels,  is  as  unfair  morally,  as  it  is  illogical  critically. 
It  creates  a  phantom,  a  fictitious  character,  and  calls 
that  Christ.  It  makes  each  writer,  each  thinker — or 
rather  dreamer — however  shallow  his  heart  and  stupid 
his  brain — and  all  our  hearts  are  but  too  shallow,  and 
all  our  brains  too  stupid — the  measure  of  a  personage 
so  vast  and  so  unique,  that  all  Christendom  for  eighteen 
hundred  years  has  seen  in  Him,  and  we  of  course  hold 
seen  truly,  the  Incarnate  God.  No ;  we  must  think  of 
nothing  save  what  is  set  down  in  Holy  Writ. 

And  yet,  alas  !  we  cannot  use  in  our  days,  that  which 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago  was  the  most  simple  and 
obvious  test  of  our  Lord's  truthfulness,  namely  His  mir- 
aculous powers.  The  folly  and  sin  of  man  have  robbed  us 
of  what  is,  as  it  were,  one  of  the  natural  rights  of  reason- 


32  The  Lord  Coming  to  His  Temple, 

ing,  man.  Lying  prodigies  and  juggleries,  forged  and  pre- 
tended miracles,  even — oh,  shame  ! — imitations  of  His 
most  sacred  wounds,  have,  up  to  our  own  time,  made  all 
rational  men  more  and  more  afraid  of  aught  which  seems 
to  savour  of  the  miraculous  ;  till  most  of  us,  I  think, 
would  have  to  ask  forgiveness — as  I  myself  should  have 
to  ask, — if,  tantalized  and  insulted  again  and  again  by 
counterfeit  miracles,  we  failed  to  recognise  real  miracles, 
and  Him  who  performed  them.  Therefore,  for  good  or 
evil,  we  should  be  driven  back  upon  that  test  alone, 
which,  after  all,  perhaps,  is  the  most  sure  as  well  as  the 
most  convincing — the  moral  test — the  test  of  character. 
What  manner  of  personage  would  He  be  did  He  con- 
descend to  appear  among  us  ?  Of  that,  thank  God,  the 
Gospels  ought  to  leave  us  in  no  doubt.  What  acts  He 
might  condescend  to  perform,  what  words  He  might  con- 
descend to  speak,  it  is  not  for  such  beings  as  we  to  guess. 
But  how  He  would  demean  Himself  we  know  ;  for  Holy 
Writ  has  told  us  how  He  demeaned  Himself  in  Judea 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago ;  and  He  is  the  same  yester- 
day, to-day,  and  for  ever,  and  can  be  only  like  Himself. 
But  should  we  know  Him  merely  by  His  bearing  and 
character  ?  Should  we  see  in  Him  an  utterly  ideal  per- 
sonage— The  Son  of  Man,  and  therefore,  ere  we  lost 
sight  of  Him  once  more,  the  Son  of  God  ?  Let  us  think. 
First,  therefore,  we  must  believe  that — as  in  Judea  of 
old  —  Christ  would  meet  men  with  all  consideration 
and  courtesy.  He  would  not  break  the  bruised  reed, 
nor  quench  the  smokiug  flax.  He  would  not  strive,  nor 
cry,  nor  let  His  voice  be  heard  in  the  streets.  He 
would  not  cause  any  of  God's   little  ones  to  offend,  to 


The  Lord  Coming  to  His  Temple.  33 

stumble.  In  plain  words,  He  would  not  shock  and 
repel,  them  by  any  conduct  of  His.  Therefore,  as  in 
Judea  of  old,  He  would  be  careful  of,  even  indulgent  to, 
the  usages  of  society,  as  long  as  they  were  innocent. 
He  would  never  outrage  the  code  '  of  manners,  however 
imperfect,  however  conventional,  which  this  or  any 
other  civilised  nation  may  have  agreed  on,  to  express 
and  keep  up  respect,  self-restraint,  delicacy,  of  man 
toward  man,  of  man  toward  woman,  of  the  young 
toward  the  old,  of  the  liviog  toward  the  dead.  No. 
As  I  said  just  now,  He  would  never  cause,  by  any  act 
or  word  of  His,  one  of  God's  little  ones  to  stumble  and 
fall  away. 

I  used  just  now  that  word  onanners.  Let  me  beg 
your  very  serious  attention  to  it.  I  use  it,  remember,  in 
its  true,  its  ancient — that  is,  in  its  moral  and  spiritual 
sense.  T  use  it  as  the  old  Greeks,  the  old  Romans, 
used  their  corresponding  words ;  as  our  wise  forefathers 
used  it,  when  they  said  well,  that  "Manners  maketh 
man  ; "  that  manners  are  at  once  the  efficient  cause  of  a 
man's  success,  and  the  proof  of  his  deserving  to  succeed  : 
the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  whatsoever  inward  and 
spiritual  grace,  or  disgrace,  there  may  be  in  him.  I 
mean  by  the  word  what  our  Lord  meant  when  He  re- 
proved the  pushing  and  vulgar  arrogance  of  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  and  laid  down  the  golden  rule  of  all  good 
manners,  "  Whosoever  will  be  great  among  you,  let  him 
be  your  minister ;  and  whosoever  will  be  chief  among 
you,  let  him  be  your  servant." 

Next,  I  beg  you   to  remember  that  all,  or  almost  alL 
the  good  manners  which  we  have  among  us — courtesies. 


34  The  Lord  Coming  to  His  Temple. 

refinements,  self-restraint,  and  mutual  respect — all  which 
raises  us,  socially  and  morally,  above  our  forefathers  of 
fifteen  hundred  years  ago — deep-hearted  men,  valiant 
and  noble,  but  coarse,  and  arrogant,  and  quarrelsome — 
all  that,  or  almost  all,  we  owe  to  Christ,  to  the  inflaence 
of  His  example,  and  to  that  Bible  which  testifies  of  Him. 
Yes,  the  Bible  has  been  for  Christendom,  in  the  cottage 
as  much  as  in  the  palace,  the  school  of  manners  ;  and 
the  saying  that  he  who  becomes  a  true  Christian  becomes 
a  true  gentleman,  is  no  rhetorical  boast,  but  a  solid 
historic  fact. 

Now  im?^gine  Christ  to  reappear  on  earth,  with  that 
perfect  outward  beauty  of  character — with  what  Greeks 
and  Romans,  and  our  own  ancestors,  would  have  called 
those  perfect  manners — which,  if  we  are  to  believe  the 
Gospels,  He  shewed  in  Judea  of  old,  which  w^on  then  so 
many  hearts,  especially  of  the  common  people,  sounder 
judges  often  of  true  nobility  than  many  who  fancy  them- 
selves  their   betters.      Conceive — but  which  of  us  can 
conceive  ? — His  perfect  tenderness,   patience,  sympathy, 
graciousness,  and  grace,  combined  with  perfect  strength, 
stateliness,  even  awfulness,  when  awe  was  needed.      Re- 
member that,  if,  again,  the    Gospels  are  to  be  believed. 
He   alone,  of  all   personages    of  whom    history  tells  us, 
solved  in  His  own    words   and   deeds    the  most  difficult 
paradox  of  human  character — to  be  at  once  utterly  con- 
scious, and  yet  utterly  unconscious,  of  self;  to  combine 
with    perfect    self-sacrifice     a     perfect     self-assertion. 
Whether  or  not  His  being  able  to  do  that  proved  Him 
to  have  been   that  which  He  was,  the  Son  of  God,  it 
proves  Him  at  least  to  have  been  the  Son  of  Man — the 


The  Loi'd  Coming  to  His  Temple.  35 

unique  and  unapproachable  ideal  of  humanity,  utterly 
inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

But,  again  :  He  condescended,  in  His  teaching  of  old, 
to  the  level  of  Jewish  knowledge  at  that  time.  We 
may,  therefore,  believe  that  He  would  condescend  to 
the  level  of  our  modern  knowledge ;  and  what  would 
that  involve  ?  It  would  leave  Him,  however  less  than 
Himself,  at  least  master  of  all  that  the  human  race  has 
thought  or  discovered  in  the  last  eighteen  hundred  years. 
Think  of  that.  And  think  again,  that  if  He  condes- 
cended, as  in  Judea  of  old,  to  employ  that  knowledge  in 
teaching  men — He  who  knew  what  was  in  man,  and 
needed  not  that  any  should  bear  witness  to  Him  of  man 
— He  would  manifest  a  knowledge  of  human  nature  to 
which  that  of  a  Shakspeare  would  be  purblind  and  dull  ; 
a  knowledge  of  which  the  Scripture  nobly  says  that 
*'  The  Word  of  God  is  quick  and  powerful,  and  sharper 
than  any  two-edged  sword,  even  to  the  dividing  asunder 
of  soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is 
a  discerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart ;"  so 
that  all  ''things  are  naked  and  opened  unto  the  eyes 
of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to  do."  And  consider  that, 
in  the  light  of  that  knowledge,  He  might  adapt  himself 
as  perfectly  to  us  of  this  great  city,  as  He  did  to  the 
villagers  of  Galilee,  or  to  the  townsmen  of  Jerusalem. 

Consider,  again,  that  He  who  spoke  as  never  man  yet 
spake  in  Jerusalem,  might  speak  as  man  never  yet 
spoke  on  English  soil  ;  that  He  who  was  listened  to 
gladly  once,  because  He  spake  with  authority,  and  not 
as  the  scribes,  at  second  hand,  and  by  rule  and  prece- 
dent, might  be  listened  to  gladly  here  once  more.     For 


36  The  Lord  Coming  to  His  Teviple. 

He  might  speak  here,  not  as  we  poor  scribes  can  speak 
at  best,  but  with  an  authority,  originality,  earnestness, 
as  well  as  an  eloquence,  which  might  exercise  a  fascina- 
tion, which  would  he,  to  all  with  whom  He  came  in 
contact,  what  Malachi  calls  it,  "a  refiner's  fire" — most 
;■  purifying,  though  often  most  painful  to  the  very  best  ;  a 
fascination  which  might  be  to  every  one  who  came  under 
its  spell  a  veritable  Judgment  and  Day  of  the  Lord, 
shewing  each  man  with  fearful  clearness  to  which  side 
he  really  inclined  at  heart  in  the  struggle  between  truth 
and  falsehood,  good  and  evil  ;  a  fascination,  therefore, 
equally  attractive  to  those  who  wished  to  do  right,  and 
intolerable  to  those  who  wished  to  do  wrong. 

Consider  that  last  thought.  And  consider,  too,  that 
those  to  whom  the  fascination  of  such  a  personage  might 
be  so  intolerable,  that  it  might  turn  to  utter  hate,  would 
probably  be  those  whose  moral  sense  was  so  perverted, 
that  they  thought  they  were  doing  right  when  they  were 
doing  wrong,  and  speaking  truth  when  they  were  telling 
lies.  It  is  an  awful  thought.  But  we  know  that  there 
were  such  men,  and  too  many,  among  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  of  Jerusalem.  And  human  nature  is  the  same 
in  every  age.  Be  that  as  it  may — however  retired  His 
life,  He  could  not  long  be  hid.  He  would  shortly  exer- 
cise, almost  without  attempting  it,  an  enormous  public 
influence. 

But  yet,  as  in  Judea  of  old,  would  He  not  be  only  too 
successful  ?  Would  He  not  be  at  once  too  liberal  for 
some,  and  too  exacting  for  others?  Would  He  not,  as 
in  Judea  of  old,  encounter  not  merely  the  active  envy 
of  the  vain  and  the  ambitious,  which  would  follow  one 


The  Lord  Coming  to  His  Temple,  2>7 

who  spoke  as  never  man  spoke ;  not  merely  the  active 
malignity  of  those  who  wish  their  fellow-creatures  to  he 
had,  and  not  good ;  not  merely  the  bigotry  of  every  sect 
and  party;  but  that  mere  restless  love  of  new  excite- 
ments, and  that  dull  fear  and  suspicion  of  new  truths, 
and  even  of  old  truths  in  new  words,  which  beset  the 
uneducated  of  every  rank  and  class,  and  in  no  age  more 
than  in  our  own  ?  And  therefore  I  must  ask,  in  sober 
sadness,  how  long  would  His  influence  last  ?  It  lasted, 
we  know,  in  Judea  of  old,  for  some  three  years.      And 

then .      But  I  am  not  going  to  say  that  any  such 

tragedy  is  possible  now.  It  would  be  an  insult  to  Him  ; 
an  insult  to  the  gracious  influences  of  His  Spirit,  the 
gracious  teaching  of  His  Church,  to  say  that  of  our 
generation,  however  unworthy  we  may  be  of  our  high 
calling  in  Christ.  And  yet,  if  He  had  appeared  in  any 
country  of  Christendom  only  four  hundred  years  ago, 
might  He  not  have  endured  an  even  more  dreadful  death 
than  that  of  the  cross  ? 

But  doubtless,  no  personal  harm  would  happen  to 
Him  here.  Only  there  might  come  a  day,  in  which,  as 
in  Judea  of  old,  ''  after  He  had  said  these  things,  many 
were  oflended,  and  walked  no  more  with  Him  : "  when 
his  hearers  and  admirers  would  grow  fewer  and  more 
few,  some  through  bigotry,  some  through  envy,  some 
through  fickleness,  some  through  cowardice,  till  He  was 
left  alone  with  a  little  knot  of  earnest  disciples  ;  who 
might  diminish,  alas,  but  too  rapidly,  when  they  found 
that  He,  as  in  Judea  of  old,  did  not  intend  to  become 
the  head  of  a  new  sect,  and  to  gratify  their  ambition 
and  vanity  by  making  them  His  delegates.      And  so  the 


38  The  Lord  Coming  to  His  Temple. 

world,  the  religious  world  as  well  as  the  rest,  might  let 
Him  go  His  way,  and  vanish  from  the  eyes  and  minds 
of  men,  leaving  behind  little  more  than  a  regret  that 
one  so  gifted  and  so  fascinating  should  have  proved — I 
hardly  like  to  say  the  words,  and  yet  they  must  be  said 
— so  unsafe  and  so  unsound  a  teacher. 

I  shall  not  give  now  the  reasons  which  have  led  me, 
and  not  in  haste,  to  this  melancholy  conclusion.  I  shall 
only  say  that  I  have  come  to  it,  with  pain,  and  shame, 
and  fear.  With  shame  and  fear.  For  when  I  ask  you 
the  solemn  question.  Would  you  know  Christ  if  He 
came  among  j^ou  ?  do  I  not  ask  myself  a  question  which 
I  dare  not  answer  ?  How  can  I  tell  whether  I  should 
recognise,  after  all,  my  Saviour  and  my  Lord  ?  How 
do  I  know  that  if  He  said  (as  He  but  too  certainly 
might),  something  which  clashed  seriously  with  my  pre- 
conceived notions  of  what  He  ought  to  say,  I  should  not 
be  offended,  and  walk  no  more  with  Him  ?  How  do  I 
know  that  if  He  said,  as  in  Judea  of  old,  "  Will  ye  too 
go  away  ?  "  I  should  answer  with  St  Peter,  "  Lord,  to 
whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life, 
and  we  believe  and  are  sure  that  thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God  ?  "  I  dare  not  ask  that  ques- 
tion of  myself.  How  then  dare  I  ask  it  of  you  ?  I 
know  not.  I  can  only  say,  "  Lord,  I  believe  :  help  thou 
mine  unbelief"  I  know  not.  But  this  I  know — that  in 
this  or  any  other  world,  if  you  or  I  did  recognise  Him,  it 
would  be  with  utter  shame  and  terror,  unless  we  had 
studied  and  had  striven  to  copy  either  Himself,  or  what- 
soever seems  to  us  most  like  Him.  Yes  ;  to  study  the 
good,  the  beautiful,  and  the  true  in  Him,  and  wheresoever 


The  Lord  Coming  to  His  Temple,  39 

else  we  find  it — for  all  that  is  good,  beautiful,  and  true 
throughout  the  universe  are  nought  but  rays  from  Him, 
the  central  sun — to  obey  St.  Paul  of  old,  and  "  whatso- 
ever things  are  true,  venerable,  just,  pure,  lovely,  and 
of  good  report — if  there  be  any  virtue  and  if  there  be 
any  praise,  to  think  on  these  things," — on  these  scat- 
tered fragmentary  sacraments  of  Him  whose  number  is 
not  two,  nor  seven,  ''  but  seventy-times  seven  ; "  that  is 
the  way — I  think,  the  only  way — to  be  ready  to  recog- 
nise our  Saviour,  and  to  prepare  to  meet  our  God  ;  that 
He  may  be  to  us,  too,  as  a  refiner's  fire,  and  refine  us — ■ 
our  thoughts,  our  deeds,  our  characters  throughout. 

And  I  think,  too,  that  this  is  the  way,  perhaps  the 
only  way,  to  rid   ourselves  of  the  fancy  that  we  can  be 
accounted  righteous  before  God  for  any  works  or  deserv- 
ino-s  of   our  own.      Those  in  whom   that  fancy  lingers 
must  have  but  a  paltry  standard  of  what  righteousness 
is,    a  mean    conception  of  moral — that   is,   spiritual — 
perfection.      But  those  who  look  not  inwards,  but  up- 
wards ;  not  at  themselves,  but  at  Christ  and  all  spiritual 
perfection — they  become  more  and  more  painfully  aware 
of   their   own    imperfections.      The    beauty   of    Christ's 
character  shows  them  the  ugliness  of  their  own.      His 
purity  shows  them  their  own  foulness.    His  love  their  own 
hardness.      His  wisdom  their  own  folly.      His  strength 
their  own  weakness.      The  higher  their  standard  rises, 
the  lower   falls  their   estimate   of  themselves ;    till,    in 
utter   humiliation   and    self-distrust,   they   seek  comfort 
where  alone  it  can  be  found — in  faiili — in  utter  faith 
and  trust  in  that  very  moral  perfection   of  Christ  which 
shames  and  dazzles  them,  and  yet  is  their  only  hope. 


40  The  Lord  Coming  to  His  Te7nple. 

To  trust  in  Him  for  themselves  and  all  they  love.  To 
trust  that,  just  because  Christ  is  so  magnificent,  He  will 
pity,  and  not  despise,  our  meanness.  Just  because  He 
is  so  pure,  and  righteous,  and  true,  and  lovely,  He  will 
appreciate,  and  not  abhor,  our  struggles  after  purity, 
righteousness,  truth,  love,  however  imperfect,  however 
soiled  with  failure — and  with  worse.  Just  because  He 
is  so  unlike  us.  He  will  smile  graciously  upon  our 
feeblest  attempts  to  be  like  Him.  Just  because  He 
has  borne  the  sins  and  carried  the  sorrows  of  mankind, 
therefore  those  w^ho  come  to  Him  He  will  in  no  wise 
cast  out.     Amen. 


SEEMOK  Y. 

ADVENT    LESSONS. 

Westminster  Ahhey,  First  Sunday  in  Advent,  1873. 

Romans  vii.  22-25. 

**I  delight  in  tlie  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man  :  but  I  see  another 
law  in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and 
bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my 
members.  0  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall  deliver  me  from 
the  body  of  this  death  ?  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord." 

This  is  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent.  To-day  we  have 
prayed  that  God  would  give  us  grace  to  put  away 
the  works  of  darkness,  and  put  on  us  the  armour  of 
light.  Next  Sunday  we  shall  pray  that,  by  true  under- 
standing of  the  Scriptures,  we  may  embrace  and  hold 
fast  the  blessed  hope  of  everlasting  life.  The  Sunday 
after  that  the  ministers  and  stewards  of  God's  mysteries 
may  prepare  His  way  by  turning  the  hearts  of  the  dis- 
obedient to  the  wisdom  of  the  just — the  next,  that  His 
grace  and  mercy  may  speedily  help  and  deliver  us  from 
the  sins  which  hinder  us  in  running  the  race  set  before 
us.  But  I  do  not  think  that  we  shall  understand  those 
collects,  or  indeed  the  meaning  of  Advent  itself,  or  the 
reason  why  we  keep  the  season  of  Advent  year  by  year, 
unless  we  first  understand  the  prayer  which  we  offered 
up  last  Sunday,   ''  Stir   up,   0   Lord,   the  wills  of  Thy 


42  Adve7it  Lessons, 

faithful  people," — and  we  shall  understand  that  prayer 
just  in  proportion  as  we  have  in  us  the  Spirit  of  God,  or 
the  spirit  of  the  world,  which  is  the  spirit  of  unbelief. 

Worldly  people  say — and  say  openly,  just  now — that 
this  prayer  is  all  a  dream.  Thay  say  God  will  not  stir 
up  men's  wills  to  do  good  any  more  than  to  do  harm. 
He  leaves  men  to  themselves  to  get  through  life  as  they 
can.  This  Heavenly  Father  of  whom  you  speak  will 
not  give  His  holy  spirit  to  those  who  ask  Him,  He 
does  not,  as  one  of  your  Collects  says,  put  into  men's 
minds  good  desires — they  come  to  a  man  entirely  from 
outside  a  man,  from  his  early  teaching,  his  youthful 
impressions,  as  they  are  called  now-a-days.  He  does 
not  either  give  men  grace  and  power  to  put  these  desires 
into  practice.  That  depends  entirely  on  the  natural 
strength  of  a  man's  character ;  and  that,  again,  depends 
principally  on  the  state  of  his  brain.  So,  says  the 
world,  if  you  wish  your  own  character  to  improve,  you 
must  improve  it  yourself,  for  God  will  not  improve  it  for 
you.  But,  after  all,  why  should  you  try  to  improve  ? 
why  not  be  content  to  be  just  what  you  are  ?  you  did 
not  make  yourself,  and  you  are  not  responsible  for  being 
merely  what  God  has  chosen  to  make  you. 

This  is  what  worldly  men  say,  or  at  least  what  they 
believe  and  act  on ;  and  this  is  the  reason  why  there  is 
so  little  improvement  in  the  world,  because  men  do  not 
ask  God  to  improve  their  hearts  and  stir  up  their  wills. 
I  say,  very  little  improvement.  Men  talk  loudly  of  the 
enlightenment  of  the  age,  and  the  progress  of  the  species, 
and  the  spread  of  civilisation,  and  so  forth  :  but 
when  I  read   old   books,  and  compare  old  times   with 


Advent  Lessons,  43 

these,  I  confess  I  do  not  see  so  much  of  it  as  all  this 
hopeful  talk  would  lead  me  to  expect.  Men  in  general 
have  grown  more  prudent,  more  cunning,  from  long 
experience.  They  have  found  out  that  certain  sins  do 
not  pay — that  is,  they  interfere  with  people's  comfort 
and  their  power  of  making  money,  and  therefore  they 
prudently  avoid  them  themselves,  and  put  them  down 
by  law  in  other  men's  cases.  Men  have  certainly  grown 
more  goodnatured,  in  some  countries,  in  that  they  dislike 
more  than  their  ancestors  did,  to  inflict  bodily  torture 
on  human  beings  ;  but  they  are  just  as  ready,  or  even 
more  ready,  to  inflict  on  those  whom  they  dislike  that 
moral  and  mental  torture  which  to  noble  souls  is  worse 
than  any  bodily  pain.  As  for  any  real  improvement  in 
human  nature — where  is  it  ?  There  is  just  as  much 
falsehood,  cheating,  and  covetousness,  I  believe,  in  the 
world  as  ever  there  was  ;  just  as  much  cant  and  hypo- 
crisy, and  perhaps  more ;  just  as  much  envy,  hatred, 
malice  and  all  uncharitabJeness.  Is  not  the  condition 
of  the  masses  in  many  great  cities  as  degraded  and  as 
sad  as  ever  was  that  of  the  serfs  in  the  middle  ages  ? 
Do  not  the  poor  still  die  by  tens  of  thousands  of  fevers, 
choleras,  and  other  diseases,  which  we  know  perfectly 
how  to  prevent,  and  yet  have  not  the  wdll  to  prevent? 
Is  not  the  adulteration  of  food  just  now  as  scandalous  as 
it  is  unchecked  ?  The  sins  and  follies  of  human  nature 
have  been  repressed  in  one  direction  only  to  break  out 
in  another.  And  as  for  open  and  coarse  sin,  people 
complain  even  now,  and  I  fear  with  justice,  that  there 
is  more  drunkenness  in  England  at  this  moment  than 
there  ever  was.      So  much  for  our  boasted  improvement. 


44  Advent  Lessons, 

Look  again  at  the  wars  of  the  world.  Five-and- 
twenty  years  ago,  one  used  to  be  told  that  the  human 
race  was  grown  too  wise  to  go  to  war  any  more,  and  that 
we  were  to  have  an  advent  of  universal  peace  and  plenty, 
and  since  then  we  have  seen  some  seven  great  wars, — 
the  last  the  most  terrible  of  all, — and  ever  since,  all  the 
nations  of  Europe  have  been  watching  each  other  in 
distrust  and  dread,  increasing  their  armaments,  working 
often  night  and  day  at  forging  improved  engines  of 
destruction,  wherewith  to  kill  their  fellowmen.  Not 
that  I  blame  that.  It  is  necessary.  Yes  !  but  the 
hideous  thing  is,  that  it  should  be  necessary.  Does 
that  state  of  things  look  much  like  progress  of  the 
human  race  ?  Can  we  say  that  mankind  is  much  im- 
proved, either  in  wisdom  or  in  love,  while  all  the  nations 
of  Europe  are  spending  millions  merely  to  be  ready  to 
fight  they  know  not  whom,  they  know  not  why  ? 

No,  my  good  friends,  obey  the  wise  man,  and  clear 
your  minds  of  cant — man's  pretensions,  man's  boastful- 
ness,  man's  power  of  blinding  his  own  eyes  to  plain 
facts — above  all,  to  the  plain  fact  that  he  does  not  suc- 
ceed, even  in  this  world  of  which  he  fancies  himself  the 
master,  because  he  lives  without  God  in  the  world.  All 
this  saddens,  I  had  almost  said,  sickens,  a  thoughtful 
man,  till  he  turns  away  from  this  noisy  sham  improve- 
ment of  mankind — the  wages  of  sin,  which  are  death, 
to  St  John's  account  of  the  true  improvement  of 
mankind,  the  true  progress  of  the  species, — the  gift  of 
God  which  is  eternal  life.  "  And  I  saw  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth  :  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first  earth 
were  passed  away.      And   I  saw  the  Holy  City — New 


Advent  Lessons.  45 

Jerusalem,  cotning  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  pre- 
pared as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I  heard 
a  great  voice  out  of  heaven,  saying,  Behold  the  taber- 
nacle of  God  is  with  men,  and  He  will  dwell  with  them, 
and  they  shall  be  His  people,  and  God  Himself  shall  be 
with  them,  and  be  their  God.  And  God  shall  wipe 
away  all  tears  from  their  eyes  ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more 
death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be 
any  more  pain  :  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away." 

Does  that  sound  much  like  a  general  increase  of 
armaments  ?  or  like  bills  for  the  prevention  of  pesti- 
lence, or  of  drunkenness, — which,  even  if  they  pass,  will 
both  probably  fail  to  do  the  good  which  they  propose  V 
No.  And  if  this  wicked  world  is  to  be  mended,  then 
God  must  stir  up  the  wills  of  His  faithful  people,  and 
we  must  pray  without  ceasing  for  ourselves,  and  for  all 
for  whom  we  are  bound  to  pray,  that  He  would  stir 
them  up.  For  what  we  want  is  not  knowledge ;  we 
have  enough  of  that,  and  too  much.  Too  much  :  for 
knowing  so  much  and  doing  so  little,  what  an  account 
will  be  required  of  us  at  the  last  day  ! 

No.  It  is  the  will  which  we  want,  in  a  hundred 
cases.  Take  that  of  pestilential  dwelling-houses  in  our 
great  towns.  Every  one  knows  that  they  ought  to  be 
made  healthy ;  every  one  knows  that  they  can  be  made 
healthy.  But  the  will  to  make  them  healthy  is  not 
here,  and  they  are  left  to  breed  disease  and  death.  And 
so,  as  in  a  hundred  instances,  shallow  philosophers  are 
proved,  by  facts,  to  be  mistaken,  when  they  tell  us  that 
man  will  act  up  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge  with- 
out God's  help.     For  that  is  exactly  what  man  does  noi. 


4-6  Advent  Lessons, 

What  is  wrong  with  the  world  in  general,  is  wrong 
likewise  more  or  less  with  you  and  me,  and  with  all 
human  beings;  for  after  all,  the  world  is  made  up  of 
human  beings  ;  and  the  sin  of  the  world  is  nothing  save 
the  sins  of  each  and  all  human  beings  put  together; 
and  the  world  will  be  renewed  and  cume  right  again, 
just  as  far  and  no  farther,  as  each  human  being  is  re- 
newed and  comes  right.  The  only  sure  method,  there- 
fore, of  setting  the  world  right,  is  to  begin  by  setting 
our  own  little  part  of  the  world  right — in  a  word,  setting 
ourselves  right. 

But  if  we  begin  to  try,  that,  we  find,  is  just  what  we 
cannot  do.  When  a  man  begins  to  hunger  and  thirst 
after  righteousness,  and,  discontented  with  himself,  at- 
tempts to  improve  himself,  he  soon  begins  to  find  a 
painful  truth  in  many  a  word  of  the  Bible  and  the 
Prayer  Book  to  which  he  gave  little  heed,  as  long  as  he 
was  contented  with  himself,  and  with  doing  just  what 
pleased  him,  right  or  wrong.  He  soon  finds  out  that 
he  has  no  power  of  himself  to  help  himself,  that  he  is 
tied  and  bound  with  the  burden  of  his  sins,  and  that  he 
cannot,  by  reason  of  his  frailty,  stand  upright — that  he 
actually  is  sore  let  and  hindered  by  his  own  sins,  from 
running  the  race  set  before  him,  and  doing  his  duty 
where  God  has  put  him.  All  these  sayings  come  home 
to  him  as  actual  facts,  most  painful  facts,  but  facts  which 
he  cannot  deny.  He  soon  finds  out  the  meaning  and  the 
truth  of  that  terrible  struggle  between  the  good  in  him 
and  the  evil  in  him,  of  which  St  Paul  speaks  so  bitterly 
in  the  text.  How,  when  he  tries  to  do  good,  evil  is 
present  with  him.      How  he  delights  in  the  law  of  God 


Advent  Lessons.  47 

■witli  his  inward  mind,  and  yet  finds  another  law  in  his 
body,  warring  against  the  law  of  God,  and  bringing  him 
into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin.  How  he  is  crippled  by 
old  bad  habits,  weakened  by  cowardice,  by  laziness,  by 
vanity,  by  general  inability  of  will,  till  he  is  ready, — dis- 
gusted at  himself  and  his  own  weakness, — to  cry,  Who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? 

Let  him  but  utter  that  cry  honestly.  Let  him  once 
find  out  that  he  wants  something  outside  himself  to 
help  him,  to  deliver  him,  to  strengthen  him,  to  stir 
up  his  weak  will,  to  give  him  grace  and  power  to  do  what 
he  knows  instead  of  merely  admiring  it,  and  leaving  it  un- 
done. Let  a  man  only  find  out  that.  Let  him  see  that 
he  needs  a  helper,  a  deliverer,  a  strengthener — in  one 
word,  a  Saviour — and  he  will  find  one.  I  verily  believe 
that,  sooner  or  later,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  wdll  reveal  to 
that  man  what  He  revealed  to  St  Paul ;  that  He  Himself 
will  deliver  him  ;  and  that,  like  St  Paul,  after  crying 
*'  0  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me  from 
the  body  of  this  death  ?"  he  will  be  able  to  answer  him- 
self, I  thank  God — God  will,  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.  Christ  will  deliver  me  from  the  bonds  of  my  sins, 
Christ  will  stir  up  this  weak  will  of  mine,  Christ  will  give 
me  strength  and  power,  faithfully  to  fulfil  all  my  gcod 
desires,  because  He  Himself  has  put  them  into  my  heart 
— not  to  mock  me,  not  to  disappoint  me — not  to  make 
me  wretched  w4th  the  sight  of  noble  gi^aces  and  virtues 
to  which  I  cannot  attain,  but  to  fulfil  His  work  in  me. 
What  He  has  begun  in  me  He  will  carry  on  in  me. 
He  has  sown  the  seed  in  me,  and  He  will  make  it  bear 
fruit,  if  only  I  pray  to  Him,  day  by  day,  for  strength  to 


48  Advent  Lessons, 

do  what  I  know  I  ought  to  do,  and  cry  morning  and 
night  to  Plim,  tlie  fount  of  life,  Stir  up  my  will,  O  Lord, 
that  I  may  bring  forth  the  fruit  of  good  works,  for  then 
by  Thee  I  shall  be  plentifully  rewarded. 

So  tlie  man  gains  hope  and  heart  for  himself,  and  so, 
if  he  will  but  think  rationally  and  humbly,  he  may 
gain  hope  and  heart  for  this  poor  sinful  world.  For 
what  has  come  true  for  him  may  come  true  for  any 
man.  Who  is  he  that  God  should  care  more  for  him 
than  for  others  ?  Who  is  he  that  God  should  help  him 
when  he  prays,  more  than  He  will  help  His  whole  church 
if  it  will  but  pray?  He  says  to  himself,  all  this  knowledge 
of  what  is  right ;  all  these  good  desires,  all  these  longings 
after  a  juster,  purer,  nobler,  happier  state  of  things ; 
there  they  are  up  and  down  the  world  already,  though, 
alas !  they  have  borne  little  enough  fruit  as  yet.  Be  it 
so.  But  God  put  them  into  my  heart.  And  who  save 
God  has  put  them  into  the  world's  heart  ?  It  was  God 
who  sowed  the  seed  in  me  ;  surely  it  is  God  who  has 
sowed  it  in  other  men  ?  And  if  God  has  made  it  bear 
even  the  poorest  fruit  in  me,  why  should  He  not  make 
it  bear  fruit  in  other  men  and  in  all  the  world  ?  All 
they  need  is  that  God  should  stir  up  their  wills,  that 
they  may  do  the  good  they  know,  and  attain  the  blessed- 
ness after  which  they  long. 

And  then,  if  the  man  have  a  truly  human,  truly 
reasonable  heart  in  him — he  feels  that  he  can  pray  for 
others  as  well  as  for  himself  He  feels  that  he  must  pray 
for  them,  and  cry, — Thou  alone  canst  make  men  strong 
to  do  the  right  thing,  and  Thou  wilt  make  them. 
Stir  up  their  wills,   O  Lord  !     Thou    canst    not  meaii 


Advent  Lessons,  49 

that  all  the  good  seed  which  is  sown  about  the  world 
should  die  and  witlier,  and  bring  no  fruit  to  perfection. 
Surely  Thy  word  will  not  return  to  Thee  void,  but  be  like 
the  rain  which  comes  down  from  heaven,  and  gives  seed 
to  the  sower  and  bread  to  the  eater.  Oh,  strengthen  such 
as  stand,  and  comfort  and  help  the  weak-hearted,  and 
raise  up  them  that  fall,  and,  finally,  beat  down  Satan 
and  all  the  powers  of  evil  under  our  feet,  and  pour  out 
thy  spirit  on  all  flesh,  that  so  their  Father's  name  may 
be  hallowed,  His  kingdom  come.  His  will  be  done  on 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  And  so  will  come  the  one  and 
only  true  progress  of  the  human  race — which  is,  that  all 
men  should  become  faithful  and  obedient  citizens  of  the 
holy  city,  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  is  the  Church  of 
Christ.  To  which  may  God  in  His  mercy  bring  us  all, 
and  our  children  after  us.      Amen. 

This,  then,  is  the  reason  why  we  are  met  together  this 
Advent  day.  We  are  met  to  pray  that  God  would  so 
help  us  by  His  grace  and  mercy  that  we  may  bring  forth 
the  fruit  of  good  works,  and  that  when  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  shall  come  in  His  glorious  majesty  to  judge 
the  quick  and  the  dead,  we,  and  our  descendants  after 
us,  may  be  found  an  acceptable  people  in  His  sight. 

We  are  met  to  pray,  in  a  National  Church,  for  the 
whole  nation  of  England,  that  all  orders  and  degrees 
therein  may,  each  in  his  place  and  station,  help  forward 
the  hallowing  of  God's  name,  the  coming  of  His  king- 
dom, the  doing  of  His  will  on  earth.  We  are  met  to 
pray  for  the  Queen  and  all  that  are  in  authority,  that 
these  Advent  collects  may  be  fulfilled  in  them,  and  by 
them,  for  the  good  of  the  whole  people  ;  for  the  ministers 


50  Advent  Lessons. 

and  stewards  of  Christ's  mysteries,  that  tlie  same  collects 
may  be  fulfilled  by  them  and  in  them,  till  they  turn  the 
hearts  of  the  disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of  the  just ;  for 
the  Commons  of  this  nation,  that  each  man  may  be 
delivered,  by  God's  grace  and  mercy,  from  the  special 
sin  which  besets  him  in  this  faithless  and  worldly  genera- 
tion and  hinders  him  from  running  the  race  of  duty 
which  is  set  before  him,  and  get  strength  from  God  so 
to  live  that  in  that  dread  day  he  may  meet  his  Judge 
and  King,  not  in  terror  and  in  shame,  but  in  loyalty 
and  in  humble  hope. 

But  more — we  are  here  to  worship  God  in  Christ,  both 
God  and  man.  To  confess  that  without  Him  we  can  do 
nothing,  that  unless  He  enlighten  our  understandings 
we  are  dark,  unless  He  stir  up  our  wills  we  are 
powerless  for  good.  To  confess  that  though  we  have 
forgotten  Him,  yet  He  has  not  forgotten  us.  That  He 
is  the  same  gracious  and  generous  Giver  and  Saviour. 
That  though  we  deny  Him  He  cannot  deny  Him- 
self. That  He  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
for  ever  as  when  He  came  to  visit  this  earth  in 
great  humility.  That  the  Lord  is  King,  though  the 
earth  be  moved.  He  sitteth  upon  His  throne,  be  the 
nations  never  so  unquiet.  We  are  here  to  declare  to 
ourselves  and  all  men,  and  the  whole  universe,  that  we 
at  least  believe  that  the  heavens  and  earth  are  full  of 
His  glory.  We  are  here  to  declare  that,  w^hether  or  not 
the  kings  of  the  earth  are  wise  enough,  or  the  judges  oi 
it  learned  enough,  to  acknowledge  Christ  for  their  king, 
we  at  least  will  worship  the  Son  lest  He  be  angry,  and  so 
we  perish  from  the  right  way ;  for  if  His  wrath  be  kindled. 


Advent  Lessons,  51 

yea  but  a  little,  then  blessed  are  they,  and  they  only, 
who  put  their  trust  in  Him.  We  are  here  to  join  our 
songs  with  angels  round  the  throne,  and  with  those  pure 
and  mighty  beings  who,  in  some  central  sanctuary  of  the 
universe,  cry  for  ever,  "  Thou  art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to 
receive  glory  and  honour  and  power :  for  Thou  hast 
created  all  things,  and  for  Thy  pleasure  they  are  and 
were  created." 

We  do  so  in  ancient  words,  ancient  music,  ancient 
ceremonies,  for  a  token  that  Christ's  rule  and  glory  is 
an  ancient  rule  and  an  eternal  glory ;  that  it  is  no  new 
discovery  of  our  own,  and  depends  not  on  our  own 
passing  notions  and  feelings  about  it,  but  is  like  Christ, 
the  same  now  as  in  the  days  of  our  forefathers,  the  same 
as  it  was  fifteen  hundred  years  ago,  the  same  as  it 
has  been  since  the  day  that  He  stooped  to  be  born  ol 
the  Virgin  Mary,  the  same  that  it  will  be  till  He 
shall  come  in  His  glory  to  judge  the  quick  and  the 
dead.  Therefore  we  delight  in  the  ancient  ceremonial, 
as  like  as  we  can  make  it,  to  that  of  the  earlier  and 
purer  ages  of  the  Church,  when  Christianity  was  still,  as 
it  were,  fresh  from  the  hand  of  its  Creator,  ere  yet  it 
had  been  debased  and  defiled  by  the  idolatrous  innova- 
tions of  the  Church  of  Rome.  For  so  we  confess  ourselves 
bound  by  links  of  gratitude  to  the  Apostles,,  and  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  Apostles,  and  to  all  which  has  been  best, 
and  purest,  and  truest  in  the  ages  since.  So  we  confess 
that  we  worship  the  same  God-man  of  whom  Apostles 
preached,  of  whom  fathers  philosophised,  and  for  whom 
martyrs  died.  That  we  believe,  like  them,  that  He 
alone  is  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  :  that  there  is 


52  A  dven  t  L  essons. 

no  progress,  civilization,  or  salvation  in  this  life  or  the 
life  to  come,  but  through  His  undeserved  mercy  and  His 
strengthening  grace ;  that  He  has  reigned  from  the 
creation  of  the  world,  reigus  now,  and  will  reign  unto 
that  last  dread  day,  when  He  shall  have  put  all  enemies 
under  His  feet,  and  delivered  up  the  kingdom  to  God, 
even  the  Father,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all.  Unto  which 
day  may  He  in  His  mercy  bring  us  all  through  faith 
and  good  works  :  Amen, 


SERMON  VI. 

CAPITAL    PUNISHMENT, 

Eversley.     Quinquagesima  Sunday,  1872, 

Genesis  ix.  1,  3,  4,  5,  6. 

"And  God  blessed  Noah  and  his  sons,  and  said  unto  them,  Be  frnitful, 
and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth.  .  .  .  Every  moving  thing  that 
liveth  shall  be  meat  for  you.  .  .  .  But  flesh  with  the  life  thereof, 
which  is  the  blood  thereof,  shall  ye  not  eat.  And  surely  your  blood 
of  your  lives  will  I  require  :  at  the  hand  of  every  beast  will  I  require 
it.  and  at  the  hand  of  man  ;  at  the  hand  of  every  man's  brother  will 
I  require  the  life  of  man.  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man 
ehall  his  blood  be  shed  :  for  in  the  image  of  God  made  he  man." 

This  is  God's  blessing  on  mankind.  This  is  our  charter 
from  God,  who  made  and  rules  this  earth.  This  is  the 
end  and  duty  of  our  mortal  life  : — to  be  fruitful  and 
multiply  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it.  But 
is  that  all  ?  Is  there  no  hint  in  this  blessing  of  God  of 
something  more  than  our  mortal  life — something  beyond 
our  mortal  life  ?  Surely  there  is.  Those  words — "  in 
the  image  of  God  made  He  man,"  must  mean,  if  they 
mean  anything,  that  man  can,  if  he  will  but  be  a  true 
man,  share  the  eternal  life  of  God.  But  I  will  not  speak 
of  that  to-day,  but  rather  of  a  question  about  his  mortal 
life  in  this  world,  which  is  this  : — What  is  the  reason 
why  man  has  a  right  over  the  lives  of  animals  ?  why  he 
may  use  them  for  his  food  ?  and  at  the  same  time,  what 


54  Capital  Ptmishnient 

is  the  reason  why  he  has  not  the  same  right  over  the 
lives  of  his  fellow-men  ?  why  he  may  not  use  them  for 
food? 

It  is  this — that  "in  the  image  of  God  made  He 
man."  Man  is  made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God, 
therefore  he  is  a  sacred  creature ;  a  creature,  not 
merely  an  animal,  and  the  highest  of  all  animals,  only 
cunninger  than  all  animals,  more  highly  organised, 
more  delicately  formed  than  all  animals  ;  but  something 
beyond  an  animal.  He  is  in  the  likeness  of  God,  there- 
fore he  is  consecrated  to  God.  He  is  the  one  creature 
on  earth  whom  God,  so  far  as  we  know,  is  trying  to 
make  like  Himself.  Therefore,  whosoever  kills  a  man, 
sins  not  only  against  that  man,  nor  against  society  :  he 
sins  against  God.  And  God  will  require  that  man's 
blood  at  the  hand  of  him  who  slays  him.  But  how  ? 
At  the  hand  of  every  beast  will  He  require  it,  and  at  the 
hand  of  every  man. 

What  that  first  part  of  the  law  means  I  cannot  tell. 
How  God  will  require  from  the  lion,  or  the  crocodile,  or 
the  shark,  who  eats  a  human  being,  the  blood  of  their 
victims,  is  more  than  I  can  say.  But  this  I  can  say — 
that  the  feeling,  not  only  of  horror  and  pity,  but  of  real 
rage  and  indignation,  with  which  men  see  (what  God 
grant  you  never  may  see)  a  wild  beast  kill  a  man,  is  a 
witness  in  man's  conscience  that  the  text  is  true  some- 
how, though  how  we  know  not.  I  received  a  letter  a 
few  weeks  since  from  an  officer,  a  very  remarkable  person, 
in  which  he  described  his  horror  and  indignation  at 
seeing  a  friend  of  his  struck  down  and  eaten  by  a  tiger ; 
and  how,  when  next  day  he  stood  over  what  had  been 


Capital  Pimishment,  55 

but  the  day  before  a  human  being,  he  looked  up  to 
heaven,  and  kept  repeating  the  words  of  the  text,  "  in 
the  image  of  God  made  He  man,"  in  rage  and  shame, 
and  ahnost  accusing  God  for  allowing  His  image  to  be 
eaten  by  a  brute  beast.  It  shook,  for  the  moment,  his 
faith  in  God's  justice  and  goodness.  That  man  was 
young  then,  and  has  grown  calmer  and  wiser  now,  and 
has  regained  a  deeper  and  sounder  faith  in  God.  But 
the  shock,  he  said,  was  dreadful  to  him.  He  felt  that 
the  matter  was  not  merely  painful  and  pitiable,  but  that 
it  was  a  wrong  and  a  crime  ;  and  on  the  faith  of  this 
very  text,  a  wrong  and  a  crime  I  believe  it  to  be,  and 
one  which  God  knows  how  to  avenge  and  to  correct 
when  man  cannot.  Somehow — for  He  has  ways  of  which 
we  poor  mortals  do  not  dream — at  the  hand  of  every 
beast  will  He  require  the  blood  of  man. 

But  more  ;  at  the  hand  of  every  man  will  He  re(iuire 
it.  And  how  ?  The  text  tells  us,  ''  Whoso  sheddeth 
man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed  :  for  in  the 
image  of  God  made  He  man."  Now,  I  do  not  doubt  but 
that  the  all-seeing  God,  looking  back  on  what  had  most 
probably  happened  on  this  earth  already,  and  looking 
forward  to  what  would  happen,  and  happens,  alas  !  too 
often  now,  meant  to  warn  men  against  the  awful  crime  of 
cannibalism,  of  eating  their  fellow-men  as  they  would  eat 
an  animal.  By  so  doing,  they  not  only  treated  their 
fellow-men  as  beasts,  but  they  behaved  like  beasts  them- 
selves. They  denied  that  their  victim  was  made  in  the 
likeness  of  God ;  they  denied  that  they  were  made  in 
the  likeness  of  God ;  they  willingly  and  deliberately  put 
on  the  likeness  of  beasts,  and  as  beasts  they  were  to 


56  Capital  Punishment. 

perish.  Now,  this  is  certain,  that  savages  who  eat  men 
— and  alas  !  there  are  thousands  even  now  who  do  so — 
usually  know  in  their  hearts  that  they  are  doing  wrong. 
As  soon  as  their  consciences  are  the  least  awakened,  they 
are  ashamed  of  their  cannibalism ;  they  lie  about  it,  try 
to  conceal  it ;  and  as  soon  as  God's  grace  begins  to  work 
on  them,  it  is  the  very  first  sin  that  they  give  up.  And 
next,  this  is  certain,  that  there  is  a  curse  upon  it.  No 
cannibal  people,  so  far  as  I  can  find,  have  ever  risen  or 
prospered  in  the  world  ;  and  the  cannibal  peoples  now-a- 
days,  and  for  the  last  three  hundred  years,  have  been 
dying  out.  By  their  own  vices,  diseases,  and  wars,  they 
perish  off  the  face  of  the  earth,  in  the  midst  of  comfort 
and  plenty;  and,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  missionaries, 
even  their  children  and  grand-children,  after  giving  up 
the  horrid  crime,  and  becoming  Christians,  seem  to  have 
no  power  of  living  and  increasing,  but  dwindle  away, 
and  perish  off  the  earth.  Yes,  God's  laws  work  in 
strange  and  subtle  ways  ;  so  darkly,  so  slowly,  that  the 
ungodly  and  sinners  often  believe  that  there  are  no  laws 
of  God,  and  say — "  Tush,  how  should  God  perceive  it  ? 
Is  there  knowledge  in  the  Most  High  ? "  But  the  laws 
work,  nevertheless,  whether  men  are  aware  of  them  or 
not.  "  The  mills  of  God  grind  slowly,"  but  sooner  or 
later  they  grind  the  sinner  to  powder. 

And  now  I  will  leave  this  hateful  subject  and  go  on 
to  another,  on  which  I  am  moved  to  speak  once  and  for 
all,  because  it  is  much  in  men's  minds  just  now — I 
mean  what  is  vulgarly  called  "  capital  punishment,"  the 
punishing  of  murder  by  death.  Now  the  text,  which  is 
the  ancient  covenant  of  God  with  man,  speaks  very  clearly 


Capital  Ptmishment.  5  7 

on  this  point.  "Whosoever  shecldeth  man's  blood,  by 
man  shall  his  blood  be  shed."  Man  is  made  in  the 
likeness  of  God.  That  is  the  ground  of  our  law  about 
murder,  as  it  is  the  ground  of  all  just  and  merciful  law ; 
that  gives  man  his  right  to  slay  the  murderer ;  that  makes 
it  his  duty  to  slay  the  murderer.  He  has  to  be  jealous 
of  God's  likeness,  and  to  slay,  in  the  name  of  God,  the 
man  who,  by  murder,  outrages  the  likeness  of  God  in 
himself  and  in  his  victim. 

You  all  know  that  there  is  now-a-days  a  strong 
feeling  among  some  persons  about  capital  punishment ; 
that  there  are  those  who  will  move  heaven  and  earth 
to  interfere  with  the  course  of  justice,  and  beg  off  the 
worst  of  murderers,  on  any  grounds,  however  unreason- 
able, fanciful,  even  unfair ;  simply  because  they  have  a 
dislike  to  human  beings  being  hanged.  I  believe,  from 
long  consideration,  that  these  persons'  strange  dislike 
proceeds  from  their  not  believing  sufficiently  that  man  is 
made  in  the  image  of  God.  And,  alas  !  it  proceeds,  I 
fear,  in  some  of  them,  from  not  believing  in  a  God  at 
all — believing,  perhaps,  in  some  mere  maker  of  the 
world,  but  not  in  the  living  God  which  Scripture  sets 
forth.  For  how  else  can  they  say,  as  I  have  known  some 
say,  that  capital  punishment  is  wrong,  because  ''  we 
have  no  right  to  usher  a  man  into  the  presence  of  his 
Maker." 

Into  the  presence  of  his  Maker  !  Why,  where  else  is 
every  man,  you  and  I,  heathen  and  Christian,  bad  and 
good,  save  in  the  presence  of  his  Maker  already  ?  Do 
we  not  live  and  move  and  have  our  being  in  God  ? 
Whither  can  we  go   from  His  spirit,  or  whither  can  we 


58  Capital  Pujiishment. 

flee  from  His  presence  \  If  we  ascend  into  heaven,  He 
is  there.  If  we  go  down  to  hell  He  ib  there  also.  And 
if  the  law  puts  a  man  to  death,  it  does  not  usher  him 
into  the  presence  of  his  Maker,  for  he  is  there  already. 
It  simply  says  to  him,  "■  God  has  judged  you  on  earth,  not 
we.  God  will  judge  you  in  the  next  world,  not  we.  All 
we  know  is,  that  you  are  not  fit  to  live  in  this  world.  All 
our  duty  is  to  send  you  out  of  it.  Where  you  will  go  in 
the  other  world  is  God's  matter,  not  ours,  and  the  Lord 
have  mercy  on  your  soul." 

And  this  want  of  faith  in  a  living  God  lies  at  the 
bottom  of  another  objection.  We  are  to  keep  murderers 
alive  in  order  to  convert  and  instruct  and  amend  them. 
The  answer  is,  We  shall  be  most  happy  to  amend  any- 
body of  any  fault,  however  great :  but  the  experience  of 
ages  is  that  murderers  are  past  mending  ;  that  the  fact 
of  a  man's  murdering  another  is  a  plain  proof  that  he  has 
no  moral  sense,  and  has  become  simply  a  brute  animal. 
Our  duty  is  to  punish  not  to  amend,  and  to  say  to  the 
murderer,  ''  If  you  can  be  amended  ;  God  will  amend 
you,  and  so  have  mercy  on  your  soul.  God  must 
amend  you,  if  you  are  to  be  amended.  If  God  cannot 
amend  you,  we  cannot.  If  God  will  not  amend  you, 
certainly  we  cannot  force  Him  to  do  so,  if  we  kept  you 
alive  for  a  thousand  years."  That  would  seem  reasonable, 
as  well  as  reverent  and  faithful  to  God.  But  men  now- 
a-days  fancy  that  they  love  their  fellow  creatures  far 
better  than  God  loves  them,  and  can  deal  far  more 
wisely  and  lovingly  with  them  than  God  is  willing  to 
deal.  Of  these  objections  I  take  little  heed.  I  look 
on  them  as  merely  loose   cant,   which   does    not  quite 


Capital  Pwiishment.  59 

understand  the  meaning  of  its  own  words,  and  I  trust  to 
sound,  hard,  English  common  sense  to  put  them  aside. 

But  there  is  another  objection  to  capital  punishment, 
which  we  must  deal  with  much  more  respectfully  and  ten- 
derly ;  for  it  is  made  by  certain  good  people,  people  whom 
we  must  honour,  though  we  differ  from  them,  for  no  set 
of  people  have  done  more  (according  to  their  numbers)  for 
education,  for  active  charity,  and  for  benevolence,  and  for 
peace  and  good  will  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  And 
they  say,  you  must  not  take  the  life  of  a  murderer,  just 
because  he  is  made  in  God's  image.  Well,  I  should  have 
thought  that  God  Himself  was  the  best  judge  of  that. 
That,  if  God  truly  said  that  man  was  made  in  His  image, 
and  said,  moreover,  as  it  were  at  the  same  moment,  that, 
therefore,  whoso  sheds  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood 
be  shed — our  duty  was  to  trust  God,  to  obey  God,  and 
to  do  our  duty  against  the  murderer,  however  painful  to 
our  feelings  it  might  be.  But  I  believe  these  good  people 
make  their  mistake  from  forgetting  this  ;  that  if  the 
murderer  be  made  in  God's  image  and  likeness,  so  is  the 
man  whom  he  murders  ;  and  so  also  is  the  jury  who 
convict  him,  the  judge  who  condemns  him,  and  the 
nation  (the  society  of  men)  for  whom  they  act. 

And  this,  my  dear  friends,  brings  us  to  the  very  root 
of  the  meaning  of  law.  Man  has  sense  to  make  laws 
(which  animals  cannot  do),  just  because  he  is  made  in 
the  likeness  of  God,  and  has  the  sense  of  right  and 
wrong.  Man  has  the  right  to  enforce  laws,  to  see  right 
done  and  wrong  punished,  just  because  he  is  made  in  the 
likeness  of  God.  The  law-'  of  a  country,  as  far  as  they 
are    just    and    righteous     are    the    copy    of   what    the 


6o  Capital  Punishment. 

men  of  that  country  have  found  out  about  right 
and  wrong,  and  about  how  much  right  they  can  get 
done,  and  how  much  wrong  punished.  So,  just  as 
the  men  of  a  country  are  (in  spite  of  all  their  sins) 
made  in  the  likeness  of  God,  so  the  laws  of  a  country 
(in  spite  of  all  their  defects)  are  a  copy  of  God's  will,  as 
to  what  men  should  or  should  not  do.  And  that,  and 
no  other,  is  the  true  reason  why  the  judge  or  magistrate 
has  authority  over  either  property,  liberty,  or  life.  He 
is  God's  servant,  the  servant  of  Christ,  who  is  King  of 
this  land  and  of  all  lands,  and  of  all  governments,  and  all 
kino-s  and  rulers  of  the  earth.  He  sits  there  in  God's 
name,  to  see  God's  will  done,  as  far  as  poor  fallible 
human  beings  can  get  it  done.  And,  because  he  is,  not 
merely  as  a  man,  but,  by  his  special  authority,  in  the  like- 
ness of  God,  who  has  power  over  life  and  death,  there- 
fore he  also,  as  far  as  his  authority  goes,  has  power  over 
life  and  death.  That  is  my  opinion,  and  that  was  the 
opinion  of  St.  Paul.  For  what  does  he  say — and  say  not 
(remember  always)  of  Christian  magistrates  in  a  Christian 
country,  but  actually  of  heathen  Roman  magistrates  ? 
"  Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers.  For 
there  is  no  power  but  of  God  ;  the  powers  that  be  are 
ordained  of  God.  Whosoever  therefore  resisteth  the 
power,  resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God  :  and  they  that 
resist  shall  receive  to  themselves  damnation."  Thus 
spoke  out  the  tenderest-hearted,  most  Christ- like  human 
being,  perhaps,  who  ever  trod  this  earth,  who,  in  his 
intense  longing  to  save  sinners,  endured  a  life  of  misery 
and  danger,  and  finished  it  by  martyrdom.  But  there 
was  no  sentimentality,  no  soft  indulgence  in  him.      He 


Capital  Ptmiskment.  6 1 

knew  right  from  wrong ;  common  sense  from  cant ;  duty 
from  public  opinion ;  and  divine  charity  from  the  mere 
cowardly  dislike  of  witnessing  pain,  not  so  much  because 
it  pains  the  person  punished,  as  because  it  pains  the 
spectator.  He  knew  that  Christ  was  King  of  kings,  and 
what  Christ's  kingdom  was  like.  He  had  discovered  the 
divine  and  wonderful  order  of  men  and  angels.  He 
saw  that  one  part  of  that  order  was — ''  the  soul  that 
jinneth,  it  shall  die." 

But  some  say  that  capital  punishment  is  inconsistent 
with  the  mild  religion  of  Christ — the  religion  of  mercy 
and  love.  ''  The  mild  religion  of  Christ  !  "  Do  these 
men  know  of  Whom  they  talk  ?  Do  they  know  that,  if 
the  Bible  be  true,  the  God  who  said,  "  Whoso  sheddeth 
man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed,"  is  the  very 
same  Being,  the  very  same  God,  who  was  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate — the  very 
same  Christ  who  took  little  children  up  in  His  arms  and 
blessed  them,  the  very  same  Word  of  God,  too,  of  whom 
it  is  w^ritten,  that  out  of  His  mouth  goeth  a  two-edged 
sword,  that  He  may  smite  the  nations,  and  He  shall  rule 
them  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  He  treadeth  the  wine  press 
of  the  fierceness  and  wrath  of  Almighty  God  ?  These  are 
awful  words,  but,  my  dear  friends,  I  can  only  ask  you  if 
you  think  them  too  awful  to  be  true  ?  Do  you  believe 
the  Christian  religion  ?  Do  you  believe  the  Creeds  ? 
Do  you  believe  the  Bible  ?  For  if  you  do,  then  you 
believe  that  the  Lord  Christ,  who  was  born  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  crucified  uuder  Pontius  Pilate,  is  the  Maker, 
the  Master,  the  Ruler  of  this  world,  and  of  all  worlds. 
By  what  laws  He  rules  other  worlds  we  know  not,  save 


62  Capital  Punishment, 

that  they  are,  because  they  must  be — -just  and  merciful 
laws.  But  of  the  laws  by  which  He  rules  this  world  we 
do  know,  by  experience,  that  His  laws  are  of  most 
terrible  and  unbending  severity,  as  I  have  warned  you 
again  and  again,  and  shall  warn  you,  as  long  as  there 
is  a  liar  or  an  idler,  a  drunkard  or  an  adulteress  in  this 
parish. 

And  if  this  be  so — if  Christ  be  a  God  of  severity  as 
well  as  a  God  of  love,  a  God  who  punishes  sinners  as 
well  as  a  God  who  forgives  penitents — wliat  then  ?  We 
are.  He  tells  us,  made  in  His  likeness.  Then,  according  to 
His  likeness  we  must  behave.  We  must  copy  His  love, 
by  helping  the  poor  and  afflicted,  the  weak  and  the  op- 
pressed. But  we  must  copy  His  severity,  by  punishing 
whenever  we  have  the  power,  without  cowardice  or 
indulofence,  all  wilful  offenders  ;  and,  above  all,  the  man 
who  destroys  God's  image  in  himself,  by  murdering  and 
destroying  the  mortal  life  of  a  man  made  in  the  image 
of  God.  And  more  ;  if  we  be  made  in  the  likeness  of 
God  and  of  Christ,  we  must  remember,  morning  and 
night,  and  all  day  long,  that  most  awful  and  most  blessed 
fact.  We  must  say  to  ourselves,  again  and  again,  "I  am 
not  a  mere  animal,  and  like  a  mere  animal  I  must  not 
behave  ;  I  dare  not  behave  like  a  mere  animal,  for  I 
was  made  in  the  likeness  of  God  ;  and  when  I  was 
baptised  the  Spirit  of  God  took  possession  of  me  to 
restore  me  to  God's  likeness,  and  to  call  oat  and  perfect 
God's  likeness  in  me  all  my  life  long.  Therefore,  I  am 
no  mere  animal ;  and  never  was  intended  to  be.  I  am 
the  temple  of  God  ;  my  body  and  soul  belong  to  God, 
and  not  to  my  own  fancies  and   passions  and  lusts,  and 


Capital  Punishment,  6 


whosoever    defiles    the    temple    of  God,    him  will  God 
destroy." 

Therefore,  this  is  our  duty,  this  is  our  only  hope  or 
safety — to  do  our  best  to  keep  alive  and  strong  the  like- 
ness of  God  in  ourselves  ;  to  try  to  grow,  not  more  and 
more  mean,  and  brutal,  and  carnal,  but  more  and  more 
noble,  and  human,  and  spiritual;  to  crush  down  our  base 
passions,  our  selfish  inclinations,  by  the  help  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  to  think  of  and  to  pray  for,  whatsoever  is 
like  Christ  and  like  God ;  to  pray  for  a  noble  love  of 
what  is  good  and  noble,  for  a  noble  hate  of  what  is  bad ; 
and  whatsoever  things  are  pure  and  lovely  and  of  good 
report  to  think  of  these  things.  And  to  pray,  too,  for 
forgiveness  from  Christ,  and  for  the  sake  of  Christ, 
whenever  we  have  yielded  to  our  low  passions,  and 
defiled  the  likeness  of  God  in  us,  and  grieved  His  Spirit, 
lest  at  the  last  day  it  be  said  to  us,  if  not  in  words  yet 
in  acts,  which  there  will  be  no  mistaking,  no  escaping, — 
''  I  made  thee  in  My  likeness  in  the  beginning  of  the 
creation,  I  redeemed  thee  into  My  likeness  on  the  cross, 
I  baptised  thee  into  My  likeness  by  my  Holy  Spirit ;  and 
what  hast  thou  hast  done  with  My  likeness  ?  Thou  hast 
cast  it  away,  thou  hast  let  it  die  out  in  thee,  thou  hast  lived 
after  the  flesh  and  not  after  the  spirit,  and  hast  put  on 
the  likeness  of  the  carnal  man,  the  likeness  of  the  brute. 
Thou  hast  copied  the  vanity  of  the  peacock,  the  silliness 
of  the  ape,  the  cunning  of  the  fox,  the  rapacity  of  the 
tiger,  the  sensuality  of  the  swine ;  but  thou  hast  not 
copied  God,  thy  God,  who  died  that  thou  mightest  live, 
and  be  a  man.  Then,  thou  hast  destroyed  God's  like- 
ness, for  thou   hast  destroyed   it  in  thyself      Thou  hast 


64  Capital  Punishment. 

slain  a  man,  for  thou  hast  slain  thy  own  manhood,  and 
art  thine  own  murderer,  and  thine  own  blood  shall  be 
required  at  thy  hand.  That  which  thou  hast  done  to 
God's  likeness  in  thee,  shall  be  done  to  that  which 
remains  of  thee  in  a  second  death." 

And  from  that  may  Christ  in  His  mercy  deliver  us 
alL     Amen. 


SERMON    Vll 

TEMPTATION. 

Everslerj,  1872.     Chester  Cathedral,  1872. 

St  Matt.  iv.  3. 

**  And  when  the  tempter  came  to  Him,  he  said,  If  Thou  be  the  Son  of 
God,  command  that  these  stones  be  made  bread. " 

Let  me  say  a  few  words  to-day  about  a  solemn  sub- 
ject, namely,  Temptation.  I  do  not  mean  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  flesh — the  temptations  which  all  men  have 
to  yield  to  the  low  animal  nature  in  them,  and  behave 
like  brutes.  I  mean  those  deeper  and  more  terrible 
temptations,  which  our  Lord  conquered  in  that  great 
struggle  with  evil  which  is  commonly  called  His  tempta- 
tion in  the  wilderness.  These  were  temptations  of  an 
evil  spirit — the  temptations  which  entice  some  men,  at 
least,  to  behave  like  devils. 

Now  these  temptations  specially  beset  religious  men 
— men  who  are,  or  fancy  themselves,  superior  to  their 
fellowmen,  more  favoured  by  God,  and  with  nobler 
powers,  and  grander  work  to  do,  than  the  common  aver- 
age of  mankind.  But  specially,  I  say,  they  beset  those 
who  are,  or  fancy  themselves,  the  children  of  God. 
And,  therefore,  I  humbly  suppose  our  Lord  had  to 
endure  and  to  conquer  these  very  temptations  because 
He  was  not  merely  a  child  of  God,  but  the  Son  of  God 

E 


66  Temptation, 

■ — the  perfect  Man,  made  in  the  perfect  likeness  of  His 
Father,  He  had  to  endure  these  temptations,  and  to 
conquer  them,  that  He  might  be  able  to  succour  us 
when  we  are  tempted,  seeing  that  He  was  tempted  in 
like  manner  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin. 

Now  it  has  been  said,  and,  I  think,  well  said,  that 
what  proves  our  Lord's  three  temptations  to  have  been 
very  subtle  and  dangerous  and  terrible,  is  this — that  we 
cannot  see  at  first  sight  that  they  were  temptations  at 
all.  The  first  two  do  not  look  to  us  to  be  wrong.  If 
our  Lord  could  make  stones  into  bread  to  satisfy  His 
hunger,  why  should  He  not  do  so  ?  If  He  could  prove 
to  the  Jews  that  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  their  divine 
King  and  Saviour,  by  casting  Himself  down  from  the 
pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and  being  miraculously  supported 
in  the  air  by  angels — if  He  could  do  that,  why  should 
He  not  do  it  ?  And  lastly,  the  third  temptation  looks 
at  first  sight  so  preposterous  that  it  seems  silly  of  the 
evil  spirit  to  have  hinted  at  it.  To  a.sk  any  man  of 
piety,  much  less  the  Son  of  God  Himself,  to  fall  down 
and  worship  the  devil,  seems  perfectly  absurd — a  request 
not  to  be  listened  to  for  a  moment,  but  put  aside  with 
contempt. 

Well,  my  friends,  and  the  very  danger  of  these 
spiritual  temptations  is — that  they  do  not  look  like 
temptations.  They  do  not  look  ugly,  absurd,  wrong ; 
they  look  j)leasant,  reasonable,  right. 

The  devil,  says  the  apostle,  transforms  himself  at 
times  into  an  angel  of  light.  If  so,  then  he  is  certainly 
far  more  dangerous  than  if  he  came  as  an  angel  of  dark- 
ness and  horror.     If  you  met  some  Tenomous  snake,  with 


Temptation.  6  7 

loathsome  spots  upon  his  scales,  his  eyes  full  of  rage  and 
cunning,  his  head  raised  to  strike  at  you,  hissing  and 
showing  his  fangs,  there  would  be  no  temptation  to  have 
to  do  with  him.  You  w^ould  know  that  you  had  to  deal 
with  an  evil  beast,  and  must  either  kill  him  or  escape 
from  him  at  once.  But  if,  again,  you  met,  as  you  may 
meet  in  the  tropics,  a  lovely  little  coral  snake,  braided 
with  red  and  white,  its  mouth  so  small  that  it  seenas 
impossible  that  it  can  bite,  and  so  gentle  that  children 
may  take  it  up  and  play  with  it,  then  you  might  be 
tempted,  as  many  a  poor  child  has  been  ere  now,  to 
admire  it,  fondle  it,  wreathe  it  round  the  neck  for  a 
necklace,  or  round  the  arm  for  a  bracelet,  till  the  play 
goes  one  step  too  far,  the  snake  loses  its  temper,  gives 
one  tiny  scratch  upon  the  lip  or  finger,  and  that  scratch 
is  certain  death.  That  would  be  a  temptation  indeed  ; 
one  all  the  more  dangerous  because  there  is,  I  am  told, 
another  sort  of  coral  snake  perfectly  harmless,  which  is 
so  exactly  like  the  deadly  one,  that  no  child,  and  few 
grown  people,  can  know  them  apart. 

Even  so  it  is  with  our  worst  temptations.  They  look 
sometimes  so  exactly  like  what  is  good  and  noble  and 
useful  and  relis^ious,  that  we  mistake  the  evil  for  the 
good,  and  play  with  it  till  it  stings  us,  and  we  find  out 
too  late  that  the  wages  of  sin  are  death.  Thus 
religious  people,  just  because  they  are  religious,  are 
apt  to  be  specially  tempted  to  mistake  evil  for  good, 
and  to  do  something  specially  wrong,  when  they  think 
they  are  doing  something  specially  right,  and  so  give 
occasion  to  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  to  blaspheme ;  till, 
as  a  hard  and  experienced  man  of  the  world  once  said  : 


68  Temptation, 

"  Whenever  I  hear  a  man  talking  of  his  conscience^  1 
know  that  he  is  going  to  do  something  particularly 
foolish  ;  whenever  I  hear  of  a  man  talking  of  his  duty, 
I  know  that  he  is  going  to  do  something  particularly 
cruel." 

Do  I  say  this  to  frighten  you  away  from  being  religi- 
ous ?  God  forbid.  Better  to  be  religious  and  to  fear  and 
love  God,  though  you  were  tempted  by  all  the  devils  out 
of  the  pit,  than  to  be  irreligious  and  a  mere  animal,  and 
be  tempted  only  by  your  own  carnal  nature,  as  the 
animals  are.  Better  to  be  tempted,  like  the  hermits  of 
old,  and  even  to  fall  and  rise  again,  singing,  "Rejoice  not 
against  me,  O  mine  enemy,  when  I  fall  I  shall  arise  ; " 
than  to  live  the  life  of  the  flesh,  "  like  a  beast  with 
lower  pleasures,  like  a  beast  with  lower  pains."  It  is 
the  price  a  man  must  pay  for  hungering  and  thirsting 
after  righteousness,  for  longing  to  be  a  child  of  God  in 
spirit  and  in  truth.  "  The  devil,"  says  a  wise  man  of 
old,  "  does  not  tempt  bad  men,  because  he  has  got  them 
already ;  he  tempts  good  men,  because  he  has  not  got 
them,  and  wants  to  get  them." 

But  how  shall  we  know  these  temptations  ?  God 
knows,  my  friends,  better  than  I ;  and  I  trust  that 
He  will  teach  you  to  know,  according  to  what  each 
of  you  needs  to  know.  But  as  far  as  my  small  ex- 
perience goes,  the  root  of  them  all  is  pride  and  self- 
conceit.  Whatsoever  thoughts  or  feelings  tempt  us  to 
pride  and  self-conceit  are  of  the  devil,  not  of  God.  The 
devil  is  specially  the  spirit  of  pride ;  and,  therefore, 
whatever  tempts  you  to  fancy  yourself  something  dif- 
ferent  from   your   fellowmen,   superior   to   your   fellow- 


Temptation,  69 

men,  safer  than  them,  more  favoured  by  God  than  them, 
that  is  a  temptation  of  the  spirit  of  pride.  Whatever 
tempts  you  to  think  that  you  can  do  without  God's  help 
and  God's  providence;  whatever  tempts  you  to  do  any- 
thing extraordinary,  and  show  yourself  off,  that  you  may 
make  a  figure  in  the  world  ;  and  above  all,  whatever 
tempts  you  to  antinomianism,  that  is,  to  fancy  that  God 
will  overlook  sins  in  you  which  He  will  not  overlook  in 
other  men — all  these  are  temptations  from  the  spirit  of 
pride.  They  are  temptations  like  our  Lord's  tempta- 
tions. These  temptations  came  on  our  Lord  more  ter- 
ribly than  they  ever  can  on  you  and  me,  just  because 
He  was  the  Son  of  Man,  the  perfect  Man,  and,  therefore, 
had  more  real  reason  for  being  proud  (if  such  a  thing 
could  be)  than  any  man,  or  than  all  men  put  together. 
But  He  conquered  the  temptations  because  He  was 
perfect  Man,  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God ;  and,  there- 
fore, He  knew  that  the  only  way  to  be  a  perfect  man 
was  not  to  be  proud,  however  powerful,  wise,  and  glori- 
ous He  might  be ;  but  to  submit  Himself  humbly  and 
utterly,  as  every  man  should  do,  to  the  will  of  His 
Father  in  Heaven,  from  whom  alone  His  greatness  came. 
Now  the  spirit  of  pride  cannot  understand  the  beauty 
of  humility,  and  the  spirit  of  self-will  cannot  understand 
the  beauty  of  obedience ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  the  devil  could  not  understand  our  Lord.  If 
He  be  the  Son  of  God,  so  might  Satan  argue.  He  has 
all  the  more  reason  to  be  proud ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  all 
the  more  easy  to  tempt  Him  into  shewing  His  pride,  into 
proving  Himself  a  conceited,  self-willed,  rebellious  being 
• — in  one  word,  an  evil  spirit. 


70  Temptation. 

And  therefore  (as  you  will  see  at  first  sight)  the  first 
two  temptations  were  clearly  meant  to  tempt  our  Lord 
to  pride ;  for  would  they  not  tempt  you  and  me  to 
pride?  If  we  could  feed  ourselves  by  making  bread  of 
stones,  would  not  that  make  us  proud  enough  ?  So  proud, 
I  fear,  that  we  should  soon  fancy  that  we  could  do  with- 
out God  and  His  providence,  and  were  masters  of 
nature  and  all  her  secrets.  If  you  and  I  could  make 
the  whole  city  worship  and  obey  us,  by  casting  ourselves 
off  this  cathedral  unhurt,  would  not  that  make  us 
proud  enough  ?  So  proud,  I  fear,  that  we  should  end  in 
committing  some  great  folly,  or  great  crime  in  our 
conceit  and  vainglory. 

Now,  whether  our  Lord  could  or  could  not  have  done 
these  wonderful  deeds,  one  thing  is  plain — that  He 
would  not  do  them ;  and,  therefore,  we  may  presume 
that  He  ought  not  to  have  done  them.  It  seems  as  if 
He  did  not  wish  to  be  a  wonderful  man  :  but  only  a 
perfectly  good  man,  and  He  would  do  nothing  to  help 
Himself  but  what  any  other  man  could  do.  He 
answered  the  evil  spirit  simply  out  of  Scripture,  as  any 
other  pious  man  might  have  done.  When  He  was 
bidden  to  make  the  stones  into  bread,  He  answers  not 
as  the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  but  simply  as  a  man.  '^  It 
is  written:" — it  is  the  belief  of  Moses  and  the  old 
prophets  of  my  people  that  man  doth  not  live  by  bread 
alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceed eth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God  : — as  much  as  to  say,  If  I  am  to  b^ 
delivered  out  of  this  need,  God  will  deliver  me  by  some 
means  or  other,  just  as  He  delivers  other  men  out  of 
their  needs.     When  He  was  bidden  cast  Himself  from 


Temptation,  7 1 

the  temple,  and  so  save  Himself,  probably  from  sorrow, 
poverty,  persecution,  and  the  death  on  the  cross,  He 
answers  out  of  Scripture  as  any  other  Jew  would  have 
done.  ''It  is  written  again,  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the 
Lord  thy  God."  He  says  nothing — this  is  most  impor- 
tant— of  His  being  the  eternal  Son  of  God.  He  keeps 
that  in  the  back-ground.  There  the  fact  was  ;  but  He 
veiled  the  glory  of  His  godhead,  that  He  might  assert 
the  rights  of  His  manhood,  and  shew  that  mere  man,  by 
the  help  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  could  obey  God,  and  keep 
His  commandments. 

I  say  these  last  words  with  all  diffidence  and  humility, 
and  trusting  that  the  Lord  will  pardon  any  mistake 
which  I  may  make  about  His  Divine  Words.  I  only 
say  them  because  wiser  men  than  I  have  often  taken  the 
same  view  already.  Of  course  there  is  more,  far  more, 
in  this  wonderful  saying  than  we  can  understand,  or 
ever  will  understand.  But  this  I  think  is  plain — that 
our  Lord  determined  to  behave  as  any  and  every  other 
man  ought  to  have  done  in  His  place ;  in  order  to  shew 
all  God's  children  the  example  of  perfect  humility  and 
perfect  obedience  to  God. 

But  again,  the  devil  asked  our  Lord  to  fall  down 
and  worship  him.  Now  how  could  that  be  a  temptation 
to  pride  ?  Surely  that  was  asking  our  Lord  to  do  any- 
thing but  a  proud  action,  rather  the  most  humihating 
and  most  base  of  all  actions.  My  friends,  it  seems  to 
me  that  if  our  Lord  had  fallen  down  and  worshipped  the 
evil  spirit.  He  would  have  given  way  to  the  spirit  of 
pride  utterly  and  boundlessly ;  and  I  will  tell  you  why. 

The   devil  wanted   our  Lord    to    do   evil    that  good 


72  Temptation. 

might  come.  It  would  have  been  a  blessing,  that  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of  man  should 
be  our  Lord's, — the  very  blessing  for  this  poor  earth 
which  He  came  to  buy,  and  which  He  bought  with  His 
own  precious  blood.  And  here  the  devil  offered  Him 
the  very  prize  for  which  He  came  down  on  earth,  with- 
out struggle  or  difficulty,  if  He  would  but  do,  for  one 
moment,  one  wrong  thing.  What  temptation  that  would 
be  to  our  Lord  as  God,  I  dare  not  say.  But  that  to  our 
Lord  as  Man,  it  must  have  been  the  most  terrible  ^f  all 
temptations,  I  can  well  believe :  because  history  shews  us, 
and,  alas  !  our  own  experience  in  modern  times  shews  us, 
persons  yielding  to  that  temptation  perpetually  ;  pious 
people,  benevolent  people,  people  who  long  to  spread  the 
Bible,  to  convert  sinners,  to  found  charities,  to  amend 
laws,  to  set  the  world  right  in  some  way  or  other,  and 
who  fancy  that  therefore,  in  carrying  out  their  fine  pro- 
jects, they  have  a  right  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come. 

This  is  a  very  painful  subject ;  all  the  more  painful 
just  now,  because  I  sometimes  think  it  is  the  special  sin 
of  this  country  and  this  generation,  and  that  God  will 
bring  on  us  some  heavy  punishment  for  it.  But  all 
who  know  the  world  in  its  various  phases,  and  especially 
what  are  called  the  religious  world,  and  the  philauthropic 
world,  and  the  political  world,  know  too  well  that  men, 
not  otherwise  bad  men,  will  do  things  and  say  things, 
to  carry  out  some  favourite  project  or  movement,  or  to 
support  some  party,  religious  or  other,  which  they 
would  (I  hope)  be  ashamed  to  say  and  do  for  their  own 
private  gain.  Now  what  is  this,  but  worshipping  the 
evil  spirit,  in  order  to  get  power  over  this  world,  that 


Temptation.  73 

they  may  (as  they  fancy)  amend  it  ?  And  what  is  this 
but  self-conceit  —  ruinous,  I  had  almost  said,  blas- 
phemous ?  These  people  think  themselves  so  certainly 
in  the  right,  and  their  plans  so  absolutely  necessary  to 
the  good  of  the  world,  that  God  has  given  them  a  special 
licence  to  do  what  they  like  in  carrying  them  out;  that 
He  will  excuse  in  them  falsehoods  and  meannesses,  even 
tyranny  and  violences  which  He  will  excuse  in  no  one 
else. 

Now,  is  not  this  self-conceit  ?  What  would  you  think 
of  a  servant  who  disobeyed  you,  cheated  you,  and  yet 
said  to  himself — No  matter,  my  master  dare  not  turn 
me  off :  I  am  so  useful  that  he  cannot  do  without  me. 
Even  so  in  all  ages,  and  now  as  much  as,  or  more  than 
ever,  have  men  said,  We  are  so  necessary  to  God  and 
God's  cause,  that  He  cannot  do  without  us ;  and  there- 
fore though  He  hates  sin  in  everyone  else,  He  will 
excuse  sin  in  us,  as  long  as  we  are  about  His  business. 

Therefore,  my  dear  friends,  whenever  we  are  tempted 
to  do  or  say  anything  rash,  or  vain,  or  mean,  because 
we  are  the  children  of  God  ;  whenever  we  are  inclined 
to  be  puffed  up  with  spiritual  pride,  and  to  fancy  that 
we  may  take  liberties  which  other  men  must  not  take, 
because  we  are  the  children  of  God  ;  let  us  remember 
the  words  of  the  text,  and  answer  the  tempter,  when 
he  says.  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  do  this  and  that,  as 
our  Lord  answered  him — "  If  I  be  the  Child  of  God, 
what  then  ?  This — that  I  must  behave  as  if  God  were 
my  Father.  I  must  trust  my  God  utterly,  and  I  must 
obey  Him  utterly.  I  must  do  no  rash  or  vain  thing  to 
tempt  God,  even  though  it  looks  as  if  I  should  have  a 


74  Temptation. 

great  success,  and  do  mucli  good  thereby.  I  must  do 
no  mean  or  base  thing,  nor  give  way  for  a  moment  to 
the  wicked  ways  of  this  wicked  world,  even  though 
again  it  looks  as  if  I  should  have  a  great  success,  and 
do  much  good  thereby.  In  one  word,  I  must  worship 
my  Father  in  heaven,  and  Him  only  must  I  serve.  If 
He  wants  me,  He  will  use  me.  If  He  does  not  want 
me,  He  will  use  some  one  else.  Who  am  I,  that 
God  cannot  govern  the  world  without  my  help  ?  My 
business  is  to  refrain  my  soul,  and  keep  it  low,  even 
as  a  weaned  child,  and  not  to  meddle  with  matters  too 
high  for  me.  My  business  is  to  do  the  little,  simple, 
everyday  duties  which  lie  nearest  me,  and  be  faithful  in 
a  few  things;  and  then,  if  Christ  will.  He  may  make  me 
some  day  ruler  over  many  things,  and  I  shall  enter  into 
the  joy  of  my  Lord,  which  is  the  joy  of  doing  good  to 
my  fellow  men.  But  I  shall  never  enter  into  that  by 
thrusting  myself  into  Christ's  way,  with  grand  schemes 
and  hasty  projects,  as  if  I  knew  better  than  He  how 
to  make  His  kingdom  come.  If  I  do,  my  pride  will 
have  a  fall.  Because  I  would  not  be  faithful  over  a 
few  things,  I  shall  be  tempted  to  be  unfaithful  over 
many  things  ;  and  instead  of  entering  into  the  joy  of 
my  Lord,  I  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  awful  judgment 
pronounced  on  those  who  do  evil  that  good  may  come, 
who  shall  say  in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not 
prophesied  in  thy  name  ?  and  in  thy  name  cast  out 
devils  ?  and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works  ? 
And  then  will  He  protest  unto  them — I  never  knew 
you.      Depart  from  me,  ye  that  woik  iniquity." 

Oh,  my  friends,  in  all  your  projects  for  good,  as  in  all 


Temptation.  75 

other  matters  whicli  come  before  you  in  your  mortal  life, 
keep  innocence  and  take  heed  to  the  thing  that  is  right. 
For  that,  and  that  alone,  shall  bring  a  man  peace  at  the 
last. 

To  which,  may  God  in  His  mercy  bring  us  all.   Amen. 


SEBMON    VIIL 
mother's  love. 

Eversley.     Second  Sunday  in  Lent,  1872. 

St  Matthew  xv.  22-28. 

*'And,  behold,  a  woman  of  Canaan  came  out  of  the  same  coasts,  and 
cried  unto  him,  saying,  Have  mercy  on  me,  0  Lord,  thou  son  of 
David ;  my  daughter  is  grievously  vexed  with  a  de^'il.  But  he 
answered  her  not  a  word.  And  his  disciples  came  and  besought  him, 
saying,  Send  her  away  ;  for  she  crieth  after  us.  But  he  answered 
and  said,  I  am  not  sent  but  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel.  Then  came  she  and  worshipped  him,  saying,  Lord,  help  me. 
But  he  answered  and  said.  It  is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's 
bread,  and  to  cast  it  to  dogs.  And  she  said,  Truth,  Lord :  yet  the 
dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs  which  fall  from  their  master's  table.  Then 
Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her,  0  woman,  great  is  thy  faith : 
be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt.  And  her  daughter  was  made 
whole  from  that  very  hour." 

If  you  want  a  proof  from  Scripture  that  there  are  two 
sides  to  our  blessed  Lord's  character — that  He  is  a  Judge 
and  an  Avenger  as  well  as  a  Saviour  and  a  Pardoner — 
that  He  is  infinitely  severe  as  well  as  infinitely  merciful — 
that,  while  we  may  come  boldly  to  His  throne  of  grace 
to  find  help  and  mercy  in  time  of  need,  we  must,  at  the 
same  time,  tremble  before  His  throne  of  justice — if 
you  want  a  proof  of  all  this,  I  say,  then  look  at  the 
Epistle  and  the  Gospel  for  this  day.  Put  them  side 
by  side,  and  compare  them,  and  you  will  see  how  per- 
fectly they  shew,  one  after  the  other,  the  two  sides. 


Mother  s  Love. 


77 


The  Epistle  for  the  day  tells  men  and  women  tliat  they 
must  lead  moral,  pure,  and  modest  lives.  It  does  not  ad- 
vise them  to  do  so.  It  does  not  say,  It  will  be  better  to 
do  so,  more  proper  and  conducive  to  the  good  of  society, 
more  likely  to  bring  you  to  heaven  at  last.  It  says,  You 
must,  for  it  is  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
the  will  of  God.  Let  no  man  encroach  on  or  defraud  his 
brother  in  the  matter,  says  St  Paul;  by  which  he  means, 
Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbour's  wife.  And  why  ? 
"  Because  that  the  Lord  is  the  avenger  of  all  such,  as 
we  also  have  forewarned  you  and  testified." 

My  friends,   people   talk   loosely  of  the   Thunder   of 
Sinai  and  the  rigour  of  Moses'  law,  and  set  them  against 
what  they  call  the  gentle  voice  of  the  Gospel,  and  the 
mild  religion  of  Christ.     Why,  here  are  the  Thunders  of 
Sinai  uttered  as  loud  as  ever,  from  the  very  foot  of  the 
Cross  of  Christ ;    and    the   terrible,   "  Thou  shalt  not," 
of  Moses'  law,  with  the  curse  of  God  for  a  penalty  on  the 
sinner,  uttered  by  the  Apostle  of  Faith,  and  Freedom,  in 
the    name    of    Christ    and    of  God.       St   Paul    is   not 
afraid  to  call  Christ  an  Avenger.      How  could  he  be  ? 
He  believed  that  it  was  Christ  who  spoke  to  Moses  on 
Sinai — the  very  same  Christ  who  prayed   for  His  mur- 
derers,   "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do."      And  he  knew  that  Christ  was  the  eternal 
Son  of  God,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever; 
that  He  had  not  changed  since  Moses'  time,  and  could 
never  change;    that  what  He   forbade  in   Moses'  time, 
hated  in  Moses'  time,  and  avenged  in  Moses'   time.  He 
would  forbid,  and  hate,  and  avenge  for  ever.     And  that, 
therefore,   he   who    despises   the   warnings   of  the    Law 


yS  Mother's  Love, 

despises  not  man  merely,  but  God,  who  has  also  given  to 
us  His  Holy  Spirit  to  know  what  is  unchangeable, 
the  everlastingly  right,  from  what  is  everlastingly  wrong. 
So  much  for  that  side  of  our  Lord's  character ;  so 
much  for  sinners  wl^o.  after  their  hardness  and  impeni- 
tent hearts,  treasure  up  for  themselves  wrath  against  the 
day  of  wrath  and  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment 
of  God,  in  the  day  when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of 
men  by  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  St  Paul's  Gospel. 

But,  when  we  turn  to  the  Gospel  for  the  day,  we  see  the 
other  side  of  our  Lord's  character,  boundless  condescension 
and  boundless  charity.  We  see  Him  there  still  a  Judge, 
as  He  always  is  and  always  will  be,  judging  the  secrets  of 
a  poor  woman's  heart,  and  that  woman  a  heathen.  He 
judges  her  openly,  in  public,  before  His  disciples.  But 
He  is  a  Judge  who  judges  righteous  judgment,  and  not 
according  to  appearances;  who  is  no  respecter  of  persons; 
who  is  perfectly  fair,  even  though  the  woman  be  a 
heathen  :  and,  instead  of  condemning  her  and  driving 
her  away,  He  acquits  her.  He  grants  her  prayer.  He 
heals  her  daughter,  even  though  that  daughter  was  also 
a  heathen,  and  one  who  knew  Him  not.  I  say  our  Lord 
judged  the  woman  after  He  had  tried  her,  as  gold  is 
tried  in  the  fire.  Why  He  did  so,  we  cannot  tell. 
Perhaps  He  wanted,  by  the  trial,  to  make  her  a  better 
woman,  to  bring  out  something  noble  which  lay  in  her 
heart  unknown  to  her,  though  not  to  Him  who  knew 
what  was  in  man.  Perhaps  He  wished  to  shew  His 
disciples,  who  looked  down  on  her  as  a  heathen  dog,  that 
a  heathen,  too,  could  have  faith,  humility,  nobleness, 
and  giace  of  heart.      Be  that  as  it  may,  when  the  poor 


Mother's  Love.  79 

woman  came  cr}dng  to  Him,  He  answered  her  not  a 
word.  His  disciples  besought  Him  to  send  her  away — 
and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  they  wished  Him  to 
grant  her  what  she  asked,  simply  to  be  rid  of  her. 
''Send  her  away,"  they  said,  "for  she  crieth  after  us." 
Our  Lord,  we  learn  from  St  Mark,  did  not  wish  to  be 
known  in  that  place  just  then.  The  poor  woman,  with 
her  crying,  was  drawing  attention  to  them,  and,  perhaps, 
gathering  a  crowd.  Somewhat  noisy  and  troublesome, 
perhaps  she  was,  in  her  motherly  eagerness.  But  our 
Lord  was  still  seemingly  stern.  He  would  not  listen,  it 
seemed,  to  His  disciples  any  more  than  to  the  heathen 
woman.  "I  am  not  sent  but  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel."  So  our  Lord  said,  and  (what  is  worth 
remembering)  if  He  said  so,  what  He  said  was  true.  He 
was  the  King  of  the  people  of  Israel,  the  Eoyal  Prince 
of  David's  line  ;  and,  as  a  man,  His  duty  was  only  to 
His  own  people.  And  this  woman  was  a  Greek,  a  Syro- 
phenician  by  nation — of  a  mixed  race  of  people,  notori- 
ously low  and  profligate,  and  old  enemies  of  the  Jews. 

Then,  it  seems,  He  went  into  a  house,  and  would  have 
no  man  know  it.  But,  says  St  Mark,  '^  He  could  not  be 
hid."  The  mother's  wit  found  our  Lord  out,  and  the 
mother's  heart  urged  her  on,  and,  in  spite  of  all  His 
rebuffs,  she  seems  to  have  got  into  the  house  and  wor- 
shipped Him.  She  "  fell  at  His  feet,"  says  St  Mark — 
doubtless  bowing  her  forehead  to  the  ground,  in  the 
fashion  of  those  lands — an  honour  which  was  paid,  I 
believe,  only  to  persons  who  were  royal  or  divine.  So  she 
confessed  that  He  was  a  king — perhaps  a  God  come  down 
on  earth — and  again  she  cried  to  Him,  "Lord,  help  mc." 


8o  Mother  s  Love. 

And  what  was  our  Lord's  answer — seemingly  more  stern 
than  ever?  "Let  the  children  first  be  filled:  for  it  is  not 
meet  to  take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  unto  the 
dogs."  Hard  words.  Yes  :  but  all  depends  on  how  they 
were  spoken.  All  depends  on  our  Lord's  look  as  He  spoke 
them,  and,  even  more,  on  the  tone  of  His  voice.  We  all 
know  that  two  men  may  use  the  very  same  words  to 
us ; — and  the  one  shall  speak  sneeringly,  brutally,  and 
raise  in  us  indignation  or  despair ;  another  shall  use  the 
same  words,  but  solemnly,  tenderly,  and  raise  in  us 
confidence  and  hope.  And  so  it  may  have  ])een — so,  I 
fancy,  it  must  have  been — with  the  tone  of  our  Lord's 
voice,  with  the  expression  of  His  face.  Did  He  speak 
with  a  frown,  or  with  something  like  a  smile  ?  There 
must  have  been  some  tenderness,  meaningness,  pity  in 
His  voice  which  the  quick  woman's  wit  caught  instantly, 
and  the  quick  mother's  heart  interpreted  as  a  sign  of 
hope. 

Let  Him  call  her  a  dog  if  He  would.  What  matter 
to  a  mother  to  be  called  a  dog,  if  she  could  thereby 
save  her  child  from  a  devil  ?  Perhaps  she  was  little 
better  than  a  dog.  They  were  a  bad  people  these 
Syrians,  quick-witted,  highly  civilised,  but  vicious,  and 
teaching  vice  to  other  nations,  till  some  of  the  wisest 
Romans  cursed  the  day  when  the  Syrians  first  spread 
into  Rome,  and  debauched  the  sturdy  Romans  with  their 
new-fangled,  foreign  sins.  They  were  a  bad  people,  and, 
perhaps,  she  had  been  as  bad  as  the  rest.  But  if  she 
were  a  dog,  at  least  she  felt  that  the  dog  had  found  its 
Master,  and  must  fawn  on  Him,  if  it  were  but  for  the 
hope  of  getting  something  from  Him. 


Mother  s  Love.  81 

And  so,  in  the  poor  heathen  mother's  heart,  there  rose 
up  a  whole  heaven  of  perfect  humility,  faith,  adoration. 
If  she  were  base  and  mean,  yet  our  Lord  was  great,  and 
wise,  and  good  ;  and  that  was  all  the  more  reason  why 
He  should  be  magnanimous,  generous,  condescending, 
like  a  true  King,  to  the  basest  and  meanest  of  His  sub- 
jects. She  asked  not  for  money,  or  honour,  or  this  world's 
fine  things  :  but  simply  for  her  child's  health,  her  child's 
deliverance  from  some  mysterious  and  degrading  illness. 
Surely  there  was  no  harm  in  asking  for  that.  It  was 
simply  a  mother's  prayer,  a  simply  human  prayer,  which 
our  Lord  must  grant,  if  He  were  indeed  a  man  of  woman 
born,  if  He  had  a  mother,  and  could  feel  for  a  mother, 
if  He  had  human  tenderness,  human  pity  in  Him.  And 
so,  with  her  quick  Syrian  wit,  she  answers  our  Lord  with 
those  wonderful  words — perhaps  the  most  pathetic  words 
in  the  whole  Bible — so  full  of  humility,  of  reverence,  and 
yet  with  a  certain  archness,  almost  playfulness,  in  them, 
as  it  were,  turning  our  Lord's  words  against  Him ;  and, 
b}^  that  very  thing,  shewing  how  utterly  she  trusted 
Him, — "  Truth,  Lord  :  yet  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs 
which  fall  from  their  masters'  table." 

Those  were  the  beautiful  words — more  beautiful  to 
me  than  whole  volumes  of  poetry — which  our  Lord  had 
as  it  were  crushed  out  of  the  woman's  heart.  Doubtless, 
He  knew  all  the  while  that  they  were  in  her  heart, 
though  not  as  yet  shaped  into  words.  Doubtless,  He 
was  trying  her,  to  shew  His  disciples — and  all  Christians 
who  should  ever  read  the  Bible — what  was  in  her  heart, 
what  she  was  capable  of  saying  wlien  it  came  to  the 
point.    So  He  tried  her,  and  judged  her,  and  acquitted  her. 

F 


82  Mother's  Love, 

Out  of  the  abundance  of  her  heart  her  mouth  had  spoken 
By  her  words  she  was  justified.  By  those  few  words  she 
proved  her  utter  faith  in  our  Lord's  power  and  goodness 
— perhaps  her  faith  in  His  godhead.  By  those  words 
she  proved  the  gentleness  and  humility,  the  graciousness 
and  gracefulness  of  her  own  character.  By  those  words 
she  proved,  too, — and  oh,  you  that  are  mothers,  is  that  no- 
thing?— the  perfect  disinterestedness  of  her  mother's  love. 
And  so  she  conquered — as  the  blessed  Lord  loves  to  be 
conquered — as  all  noble  souls  who  are  like  their  blessed 
Lord,  love  to  be  conquered — by  the  prayer  of  faith,  of 
humility,  of  confidence,  of  earnestness,  and  she  had  her 
reward.  ''  0  woman,"  said  He,  the  Maker  of  all  heaven 
and  earth,  "  great  is  thy  faith.  For  this  saying  go  thy 
way.  Be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt.  The  devil  is 
gone  out  of  thy  daughter."  She  went,  full  of  faith  ;  and 
when  she  was  come  to  her  house,  she  found  the  devil 
gone  out,  and  her  daughter  laid  upon  the  bed. 

One  word  more,  and  I  have  done.  I  do  not  think 
that  any  one  who  really  took  in  the  full  meaning  of 
this  beautiful  story,  would  ever  care  to  pray  to  Saints, 
or  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  for  help;  fancying  that  they,  and 
specially  the  Blessed  Virgin,  being  a  woman,  are  more 
humane  than  our  Lord,  and  can  feel  more  quickly,  if 
not  more  keenly,  for  poor  creatures  in  distress.  We 
are  not  here  to  judge  these  people,  or  any  people.  To 
their  own  master  they  stand  or  fall.  But  for  the 
honour  of  our  Lord,  we  may  say,  Does  not  this  story 
shew  that  the  Lord  is  humane  enough,  tender  enough, 
to  satisfy  all  mankind  ?  Does  not  this  story  shew 
that  even  if   He   seem    silent    at    first,   and   does  not 


Mother  s  Love.  Z-^y 

grant  our  prayers,  yet  still  He  may  be  keeping  us 
waiting,  as  He  kept  this  heathen  woman,  only  that  He 
may  be  gracious  to  us  at  last  ?  Does  not  this  story 
shew  us  especially  that  our  Lord  can  feel  for  mothers 
and  with  mothers  ;  that  He  actually  allowed  Himself  to 
be  won  over — if  I  may  use  such  a  word  in  all  reverence — 
by  the  wit  and  grace  of  a  mother  pleading  for  her  child  ? 
Was  it  not  so  ?  "  O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith.  For 
this  saying  go  thy  way.  Be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou 
wilt."  Ah !  are  not  those  gracious  words  a  comfort  to  every 
mother,  biddinsf  her,  in  the  Lord's  own  name,  to  come 
boldly  where  mothers — of  all  human  beings — have 
often  est  need  to  come,  to  the  throne  of  Christ's  grace, 
to  find  mercy,  and  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need  ? 

Yes,  my  friends,  such  is  our  Lord,  and  such  is  our 
God.  Infinite  in  severity  to  the  scornful,  the  proud, 
the  disobedient :  infinite  in  tenderness  to  the  earnest, 
the  humble,  the  obedient.  Let  us  come  to  Him,  earnest, 
humble,  obedient,  and  we  shall  find  Him,  indeed,  a 
refuge  of  the  soul  and  body  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

Thou,  O  Lord,  art  all  I  want. 

All  and  more  in  thee  I  find.    Amen. 


SEBMON    IX. 

GOOD    FRIDAY. 
Eversley,  1856. 

St.  Luke  xxiv.  5,  6. 

*•  Why  seek  ye  the  living  among  the  dead  ?    He  is  not  here, 
but  is  risen." 

This  is  a  very  solemn  day  ;  for  on  this  day  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  was  crucified.  The  question  for  us  is,  how 
ought  we  to  keep  it  ?  that  is,  what  sort  of  thoughts 
ought  to  be  in  our  minds  upon  this  day  ?  Now,  many 
most  excellent  and  pious  persons,  and  most  pious  books, 
seem  to  think  tliat  we  ought  to-day  to  think  as  much 
as  possible  of  the  sufferings  of  our  Blessed  Lord  ;  and 
because  we  cannot,  of  course,  understand  or  imagine  the 
sufferings  of  His  Spirit,  to  think  of  what  we  can,  that 
is,  His  bodily  sufferings.  They,  therefore,  seem  to  wish 
to  fill  our  minds  with  the  most  painful  pictures  of  agony, 
and  shame,  and  death,  and  sorrow  ;  and  not  only  with 
our  Lord's  sorrows,  but  with  those  of  His  Blessed  Mother, 
and  of  the  disciples,  and  the  holy  women  who  stood  by 
His  cross ;  they  wish  to  stir  us  up  to  pity  and  horror,  and 
to  bring  before  us  the  saddest  parts  of  Holy  Scripture, 
such  as  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah ;  as  well  as  dwell 
at  great  length  upon  very  painful  details,  which  may  be 
all  quite  true,  but  of  which  Scripture  says  nothing ;  and 


Good  Friday.  85 

so  to  make  this  day  a  day  of  darkness,  and  sorrow,  and 
horror,  just  such  as  it  would  have  been  to  us  if  we  had 
stood  by  Christ's  cross,  like  these  holy  women,  without 
expecting  Him  to  rise  again,  and  believing  that  all  was 
over — that  all  hope  of  Israel's  being  redeemed  was  gone, 
and  that  the  wicked  Jews  had  really  conquered  that 
perfectly  good,  and  admirable  Saviour,  and  put  Him  out 
of  the  world  for  ever. 

Now,  I  judge  no  man;  to  his  own  master  he  standeth 
or  falleth  ;  yea,  and  he  shall  stand,  for  God  is  able  to 
make  him  stand.  But  it  does  seem  to  me  that  these 
good  people  are  seeking  the  living  among  the  dead,  and 
forgetting  that  Christ  is  neither  on  the  cross  nor  in  the 
tomb,  but  that  He  is  risen  ;  and  it  seems  to  me  better 
to  bid  you  follow  to-day  the  Bible  and  the  Church  Ser- 
vice, and  to  think  of  what  they  tell  you  to  think  of 

Now  the  Bible,  it  is  most  remarkable,  never  enlarges 
anywhere  upon  even  the  bodily  sufferings  of  our  dear 
and  blessed  Lord.  The  evangelists  keep  a  silence  on 
that  point  which  is  most  lofty,  dignified,  and  delicate. 
What  sad  and  dreadful  things  might  not  St.  John,  the 
beloved  apostle  as  he  was,  have  said,  if  he  had  chosen, 
about  what  he  saw  and  what  he  felt,  as  he  stood  by  that 
cross  on  Calvary — words  which  would  have  stirred  to 
pity  the  most  cruel,  and  drawn  tears  from  a  heart  of 
stone  ?  And  yet  all  he  says  is,  '^  They  crucified  Him, 
and  two  other  with  him,  on  either  side  one,  and  Jesus 
in  the  midst."  He  passes  it  over,  as  it  were,  as  a 
thing  which  he  ought  not  to  dwell  on  ;  and  why  should 
we  put  words  into  St.  John's  mouth  which  he  did  not 
think  fit  to  put  into  his  own  ?      He  wrote  by  the  Spirit 


S6  Good  Friday, 

of  God  ;  and  therefore  he  knew  best  Avhat  to  say,  and 
what  not  to  say.  Why  should  we  try  and  say  anything 
more  for  him  ?  Scripture  is  perfect.  Let  us  be  content 
with  it.  The  apostles,  too,  in  their  Epistles,  never  dwell 
on  Christ's  sufferings.  I  entreat  you  to  remark  this. 
They  never  mention  His  death  except  in  words  of  cheer- 
fulness and  triumph.  They  seem  so  full  of  the  glorious 
fruits  of  His  death,  that  they  have,  as  it  were,  no  time 
to  speak  of  the  death  itself.  ''  Who,  for  the  joy  which 
was  set  before  Him,  endured  the  cross,  despising  the 
shame,  and  is  set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne 
of  God."  That  is  the  apostles'  key-note.  For  God's 
sake  let  it  be  ours  too,  unless  we  fancy  that  we  can  im- 
prove on  Scripture,  or  that  we  can  feel  more  for  our 
Lord  than  St.  Paul  did.  In  the  Lessons,  the  Psalms, 
the  Epistle,  and  Gospel  for  this  day,  you  find  just  the 
same  spirit.  All  except  one  Psalm  are  songs  of  hope, 
joy,  deliverance,  triumph.  The  Collects  for  this  day, 
which  are  particularly  remarkable,  being  three  in 
number,  and  evidently  meant  to  teach  us  the  key-note 
of  Good  Friday,  make  no  mention  of  our  Lord's  suffer- 
ing's, save  to  say  that  He  was  contented,  "contented  to 
be  betrayed,  and  given  up  into  the  hands  of  wicked 
men,  and  to  suffer  death  upon  the  cross,"  but  are  full  of 
prayers  that  the  glorious  fruits  of  His  death  may  be  ful- 
filled, not  only  in  us  and  all  Christians,  but  in  the  very 
heathen  who  have  not  known  Him;  drawing  us  away, 
as  it  were,  from  looking  too  closely  upon  the  cross  itself, 
lest  we  should  forget  what  the  cross  meact,  what  the 
cross  conquered,  what  the  cross  gained,  for  us  and  all 
mankind. 


Good  Friday.  8  7 

Surely,  this  was  not  done  without  a  reason.  And 
I  cannot  but  think  the  reason  was  to  keep  us  from 
seeking  the  living  among  the  dead  ;  to  keep  us  from 
knowing  Christ  any  longer  after  the  flesh,  and  spending 
tears  and  emotions  over  His  bodily  sufferings  ;  to  keep 
us  from  thinking  and  sorrowing  too  much  x)ver  the  dead 
Christ,  lest  we  should  forget,  as  some  do,  that  He 
is  alive  for  evermore  ;  and  while  they  weep  over  the 
dead  Christ  or  the  crucifix,  go  to  the  blessed  Virgin  and 
the  saints  to  do  for  them  all  that  the  living  Christ  is 
longing  to  do  for  them,  if  they  would  but  go  straight  to 
Him  to  whom  all  power  is  given  in  heaven  and  earth  ; 
whom  St  John  saw,  no  longer  hanging  on  the  accursed 
tree,  but  with  His  hair  as  white  as  snow,  and  His  eyes 
like  a  flame  of  fire,  and  His  voice  like  the  sound  of 
many  waters,  and  His  countenance  as  the  sun  when 
he  shineth  in  his  strength,  saying  unto  him,  "  Fear 
not,  I  am  the  first  and  the  last  ;  I  am  He  that  liveth 
and  was  dead,  and  behold  I  am  alive  for  evermore." 
This  is  what  Christ  is  now.  In  this  shape  He  is  look- 
ing at  us  now.  In  this  shape  He  is  hearing  me  speak. 
In  this  shape  He  is  watching  every  feehng  of  your  hearts, 
discerning  your  most  secret  intents,  seeing  through  and 
through  the  thoughts  which  you  would  confess  to  no 
human  being,  hardly  even  to  yourselves.  This  is  He,  a 
living  Christ,  an  almighty  Christ,  an  all-seeing  Christ, 
and  yet  a  most  patient  and  loving  Christ.  He  needs  not 
our  pity ;  but  our  gratitude,  our  obedience,  our  worship. 
Why  seek  Him  among  the  dead  ?  He  is  not  there.  He 
is  risen  !  He  is  not  there.  He  is  here  !  Bow  yourselves 
before  Him  now  ;    for  He  is  in  the  midst  of  you  ;  and 


88  Good  Friday. 

those  eyes  of  His,  more  piercing  than  the  mid-day  sun- 
beams, are  upon  you,  and  your  hearts,  and  your  thoughts, 
and  upon  mine  also.  God  have  mercy  upon  me  a 
sinner. 

Yes,  my  friends,  why  seek  the  living  among  the  dead  ? 
He  is  not  there,  but  here.  We  may  try  to  put  ourselves 
in  the  place  of  the  disciples  and  the  Virgin  Mary,  as 
they  stood  by  Jesus'  cross  ;  but  we  cannot  do  it,  for 
they  saw  Him  on  the  cross,  and  thought  that  He  was  lost 
to  them  for  ever ;  they  saw  Him  die,  and  gave  up  all 
hope  of  His  rising  again.  And  we  know  that  Christ  is 
not  lost  to  us  for  ever.  We  know  Christ  is  not  on  the 
cross,  but  at  the  right  hand  of  God  in  bliss  and  glory 
unspeakable.  We  may  be  told  to  watch  with  the  three 
Maries  at  the  tomb  of  Christ :  but  we  cannot  do  as  they 
did,  for  they  thought  that  all  was  over,  and  brought 
sweet  spices  to  embalm  His  body,  which  they  thought 
was  in  the  tomb  ;  and  we  know  that  all  was  not  over, 
that  His  body  is  not  in  the  tomb,  that  the  grave  could 
not  hold  Him,  that  His  body  is  ascended  into  heaven ; 
that  instead  of  His  body  needing  spices  to  embalm  it,  it 
is  His  body  which  embalms  all  heaven  and  earth,  and  is 
the  very  life  of  the  world,  and  food  which  preserves  our 
souls  and  bodies  to  everlasting  life.  We  are  not  in  the 
place  of  those  blessed  women  ;  God  has  not  put  us  in 
their  place,  and  we  cannot  put  ourselves  into  their  place ; 
and  if  we  could  and  did,  by  any  imaginations  of  our  own, 
we  should  only  tell  ourselves  a  lie.  Good  Friday  was  to 
them  indeed  a  day  of  darkness,  horror,  disappointment,  all 
but  despair ;  because  Easter  Day  had  not  yet  come,  and 
Christ  had  not  yet  risen.     But  Good  Friday  cannot  be  a 


Good  Friday.  89 

day  of  darkness  to  us,  because  Christ  has  risen,  and  we 
know  it,  and  cannot  forget  it ;  we  cannot  forget  that 
Easter  dawn,  when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arose, 
never  to  set  again.  Has  not  the  light  of  that  Re- 
surrection morning  filled  with  glory  the  cross  and 
the  grave,  yea  the  very  agony  in  the  Garden,  and  hell 
itself,  which  Christ  harrowed  for  us  ?  Has  it  not  risen 
a  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  a  joy  to  aDgels  and  arch- 
angels, and  saints,  and  all  the  elect  of  God  ;  ay,  to  the 
whole  universe  of  God,  so  that  the  very  stars  in  their 
courses,  the  trees  as  they  bud  each  spring,  yea,  the  very 
birds  upon  the  bough,  are  singing  for  ever,  in  the  ears 
of  those  who  have  ears  to  hear,  "  Christ  is  risen  ?"  And 
shall  we,  under  pretence  of  honouring  Christ  and  of  be- 
stowing on  Him  a  pity  which  He  needs  least  of  all,  try 
to  spend  Good  Friday  and  Passion  Week  in  forgetting 
Easter  Day ;  try  to  think  of  Christ's  death  as  we  should 
if  He  had  not  risen,  and  try  to  make  out  ourselves  and 
the  world  infinitely  worse  off  than  we  really  know  that 
we  are  ?  Christ  has  died,  but  He  has  risen  again  ; 
and  we  must  not  think  of  one  without  the  other. 
Heavenly  things  are  too  important,  too  true,  too  real — 
Christ  is  too  near  us,  and  too  loving  to  us,  too  earnest 
about  our  salvation,  for  us  to  spend  our  thoughts  on 
any  such  attempts  (however  reverently  meant)  at  ima- 
ginative play-acting  in  our  own  minds  about  His  hang- 
ing on  His  cross,  while  we  know  that  He  is  not  on  His 
cross  ;  and  about  watching  by  His  tomb,  when  we  know 
that  He  is  not  in  His  tomb.  Let  us  thank  Him,  bless 
Him,  serve  Him,  die  for  Him,  if  need  be,  in  return  for 
all  that  He  endured  for  us  :  but  let  us  keep  our  sorrow 


90  Good  Friday, 

and  our  pity,  and  our  tears,  for  our  own  daily  sins-— we 
have  enough  of  them  to  employ  all  our  sorrow,  and 
more  ; — and  not  in  voluntary  humility  and  will-worship, 
ao'ainst  which  St  Paul  warns  us,  lose  sio^ht  of  our 
real  Christ,  of  Him  who  was  dead  and  is  alive  for  ever- 
more, and  dwells  in  us  by  faith;  now  and  for  ever,  amen; 
and  hath  the  keys  of  death  and  hell,  and  has  opened 
them  for  us,  and  for  our  fathers  before  us,  and  for  our 
children  after  us,  and  for  nations  yet  unborn. 

True,  this  is  a  solemn  day,  for  on  it  the  Son  of  God 
fought  such  a  fight,  that  He  could  only  win  it  at  the 
price  of  His  own  life's  blood  ;  and  a  humiliating  day,  for 
our  sins  helped  to  nail  Him  on  the  cross — and  therefore 
a  day  of  humiliation  and  of  humility.  Proud,  self- 
willed  thoughts  are  surely  out  of  place  to-day  (and  what 
day  are  they  in  place  ?)  On  this  day  God  agonised  for 
man  :  but  it  is  a  day  of  triumph  and  deliverance  ;  and 
we  must  go  home  as  men  who  have  stood  by  and  seen  a 
fearful  fight — a  fight  which  makes  the  blood  of  him  who 
watches  it  run  cold ;  but  we  have  seen,  too,  a  glorious  vic- 
tory— such  a  victory  as  never  was  won  on  earth  before 
or  since  ;  and  we  therefore  must  think  cheerfully  of 
the  battle,  for  the  sake  of  the  victory  that  was  won ;  and 
remember  that  on  this  day  death  was  indeed  swallowed 
up  in  victory — because  death  was  the  victory  itself. 

The  question  on  which  the  fate  of  the  whole  world 
depended  was,  whether  Christ  dare  die  ;  and  He  dared 
die.  Whether  Christ  would  endure  to  the  end  ;  and  He 
did  endure.  "Whether  He  would  utterly  drink  the  cup 
which  His  Father  had  given  Him  ;  and  He  drank  it  to 
the  dregs  ;  and  so  by  His  very  agony  He  showed  Him- 


Good  Friday,  9 1 

self  noble,  beautiful,  glorious,  adorable,  beyond  all  that 
words  can  express.  And  so  the  cross  was  His  throne  of 
glory  ;  the  prints  of  the  nails  in  His  hands  and  feet  were 
the  very  tokens  of  His  triumph  ;  His  very  sorrows  were 
His  bliss  ;  and  those  last  words,  ''  It  is  finished,"  were 
no  cry  of  despair,  but  a  trumpet-call  of  triumph,  which 
rang  from  the  highest  heaven  to  the  lowest  hell,  pro- 
claiming to  all  created  things,  that  the  very  fountain  of 
life,  by  dying,  had  conquered  death,  that  good  had  con- 
quered evil,  love  had  conquered  selfishness,  God  had 
conquered  man,  and  all  the  enemies  of  man  ;  and  that 
He  who  died  was  the  first  begotten  from  the  dead,  and 
the  King  of  all  the  princes  of  the  earth,  who  was  going  to 
fulfil,  more  and  more,  as  the  years  and  the  ages  rolled 
on,  the  glorious  prayer  which  we  have  prayed  this  day, 
graciously  to  behold  that  family  for  whom  He  had  been 
contented  to  die  ;  and  wisely  and  orderly  to  call  each 
man  to  a  vocation  and  a  ministry,  in  which  he  might 
duly  serve  God  and  be  a  blessing  to  all  around  him,  by 
the  inspiration  of  Christ's  Holy  Spirit ;  and  to  have 
mercy,  in  His  own  good  time,  upon  all  Jews,  Turks, 
heathens,  and  infidels,  and  bring  them  home  to  His 
flock,  that  they  may  be  saved,  and  made  one  fold  under 
one  Shepherd — Him  who  was  dead  and  is  alive  for 
evermore. 

Therefore,  my  dear  friends,  if  we  wish  to  keep  Good 
Friday  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  we  cannot  do  so  better 
than  by  trying  to  carry  out  the  very  end  for  which 
Christ  died  on  this  day ;  and  doing  our  part,  small 
though  it  be,  toward  bringing  those  poor  heathens  home 
into  Christ's  fold,  and    teaching   them    the   gospel   and 


92  Good  Friday. 

good  news  that  for  them,  too,  Christ  died,  and  over 
them,  too,  Christ  reigns  alive  for  evermore  ;  and  bring- 
ing them  home  into  His  flock,  that  they,  too,  may 
find  a  place  in  His  great  family,  and  have  their  calling 
and  ministry  appointed  to  them  a^uong  the  nations  of 
those  who  are  saved  and  walk  in  the  light  of  God  and  of 
the  Lamb. 

I  have  refrained  till  now  from  speaking  to  you  much 
about  missionaries,  and  the  duty  which  lies  on  us  all  of 
helping  missions.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  must  first 
teach  you  to  understand  these  first  and  second  collects, 
before  I  went  on  to  the  third;  that  I  must  first  teach  you 
that  you  beloDged  to  Christ's  family,  and  that  He  had 
called  each  of  you,  and  appointed  each  of  you  to  some 
order  and  degree  in  His  Holy  Church.  But  now,  if 
indeed  you  have  learnt  that — if  my  preaching  here  for 
fourteen  years  has  had  any  effect  to  teach  you  who  and 
what  you  are,  and  what  your  duty  is,  let  me  entreat  you 
to  go  on,  and  take  the  lesson  of  that  third  collect,  and 
think  of  those  poor  Jews,  Turks,  infidels,  and  heretics, 
who  still — many  a  million  of  them — sit,  or  rather  wan- 
der, and  fall,  and  lie,  miserably  wallowing  in  darkness 
and  the  shadow  of  death,  and  think  whether  you  cannot 
do  something  toward  helping  them.  What  you  can  do, 
and  how  it  is  to  be  done,  I  will  tell  you  hereafter  ;  and, 
by  God's  grace,  I  hope  to  see  men  of  God  in  this  pulpit, 
who  having  been  missionaries  themselves,  can  tell  you 
better  than  I,  what  remains  to  be  done,  and  how  you 
can  help  to  do  it.  But  take  home  this  one  thought 
with  you,  this  Good  Friday, — Christ,  who  liveth  and  was 
dead,  and  behold  He  is  alive  for  evermore,  if  He   be 


Good  Friday.  93 

indeed  precious  to  you,  if  you  indeed  feel  for  His  suffer- 
ings, if  you  indeed  believe  that  what  He  bought  by  those 
sufferings  was  a  right  to  all  the  souls  on  earth,  then  do 
what  you  can  toward  repaying  Him  for  His  sufferings, 
by  seeing  of  the  travail  of  His  soul,  and  being  satisfied. 
All  the  reward  He  asks,  or  ever  asked,  is  the  hearts  of 
sinners,  that  He  may  convert  them ;  the  souls  of  sinners, 
that  He  may  save  them ;  and  they  belong  to  Him  already, 
for  He  bought  them  this  day  with  His  own  most  pre- 
cious blood.  Do  something,  then,  toward  helping  Christ 
to  His  owD. 


SERMON  X. 

THE  IMAGE  OF  THE  EARTHLY  AND  THE  HEAVENLY. 

Eversley,  Easter  Day,  1871. 

1  Cor.  XV.  49. 

"As  we  liave  borne  the  image  of  the  earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the 
image  of  the  heavenly." 

This  season  of  Easter  is  the  most  joyful  of  all  the  year. 
It  is  the  most  comfortable  time,  in  the  true  old  sense  of 
that  word  ;  for  it  is  the  season  which  ought  to  comfort 
us  most — that  is,  it  gives  us  strength  ;  strength  to  live 
like  men,  and  strength  to  die  like  men,  when  our  time 
comes.  Strength  to  live  like  men.  Strength  to  fight 
against  the  temptation  which  Solomon  felt  when  he  said  : 
"  I  have  seen  all  the  works  which  are  done  under  the 
sun,  and  behold  all  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit.  For 
what  has  a  man  of  all  his  labour,  and  of  the  vexation  of 
his  heart,  wherein  he  has  labovired  under  the  sun  ?  For 
all  his  days  are  sorrow,  and  his  travail  grief.  Yea,  his 
heart  taketh  not  rest  in  the  night.  This  also  is  vanity. 
For  that  which  befalleth  the  sons  of  men  befalleth 
beasts :  as  the  one  dieth,  so  dieth  the  other :  yea, 
they  have  all  one  breath :  so  that  a  man  has  no  pre- 
eminence over  a  beast ;  for  all  is  vanity.  All  go  to  one 
place  :  all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn  to  dus+  again. 
Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of  man  that  it  goeth  upward, 


The  Image  of  the  Earthly  and  the  Heavenly.  95 

and  the  spirit  of  the  beast  that  it  goeth  downward  to 
the  earth?  "  So  thought  Solomon  in  his  temptation,  and 
made  up  his  mind  that  there  was  nothing  better  for  a 
man  than  that  he  should  eat  and  drink,  and  make  his 
soul  enjoy  good  in  his  labour. 

So  thought  Solomon,  in  spite  of  all  his  wisdom,  be- 
cause he  had  not  heard  the  good  news  of  Easter  day. 
And  so  think  many  now,  who  are  called  wise  men  and 
philosophers ;  because  they,  alas !  for  them,  will  not 
believe  the  good  news  of  Easter  day. 

But  what  says  Easter  day  ?  Easter  day  says,  Man  has 
preeminence  over  a  beast.  The  man  is  redeemed  from 
the  death  of  the  beasts  by  Christ,  who  rose  on  Easter  day. 
Easter  day  says,  Wherever  the  spirit  of  the  beast  goes, 
wherever  the  spirit  of  the  brutal  and  the  wicked  man 
goes,  the  spirit  of  the  true  Christian  goes  upward,  to 
Christ,  who  bought  it  with  His  precious  blood.  Eastei 
day  says,  The  body  may  turn  to  the  dust  from  which 
it  was  taken,  but  the  spirit  lives  for  ever  before  God, 
who  shall  give  it  another  body,  as  it  shall  please  Him, 
as  He  gives  to  every  seed  its  own  body.  And,  therefore, 
Easter  day  says.  There  is  something  better  for  a  man 
than  to  eat  and  drink  and  enjoy  himself,  for  to-morrow 
he  may  die,  and  all  be  over;  and  that  something  is,  to 
labour  not  merely  for  the  meat  which  perishes  with  the 
perishing  body,  but  to  labour  after  the  fruits  of  the 
spirit — love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  good- 
ness, faith,  meekness,  temperance.  These  the  life  of  the 
body  does  not  give  us  ;  and  these  the  death  of  the  body 
cannot  take  away  from  us  ;  for  they  are  spiritual  and 
heavenly,   eternal  and  divine ;   and   he  who   has    them 


96   The  Image  of  the  Earthly  and  the  Heavenly. 

cannot  die  for  ever.  And,  therefore,  we  may  comfort 
ourselves  in  all  our  labour,  if  only  we  labour  at  the  one 
useful  work  on  earth,  to  be  good,  and  to  do  good,  and  to 
make  others  good  likewise. 

True  it  is,  as  St.  Paul  says,  that  if  in  this  life  only 
we  have  hope  in  Christ  we  are  of  all  men  most  miser- 
able. For  we  do  not  care  to  be  of  the  earth,  earthy : 
we  long  to  be  of  the  heaven,  heavenly.  We  do  not 
care  to  spend  our  time  in  eating  and  drinking,  mean 
covetousness,  ambition,  and  the  base  pleasures  of  the 
flesh  :  we  long  after  high  and  noble  things,  which  we 
cannot  get  on  earth,  or  at  best  only  in  fragments,  and  at 
rare  moments ;  after  the  holiness  and  the  blessedness  of 
ourselves  and  our  fellow-creatures.  But  we  have  hope 
in  Christ  for  the  next  life  as  well  as  for  this.  Hope 
that  in  the  next  life  He  will  give  us  power  to  succeed, 
where  we  failed  here  ;  that  He  will  enable  us  to  be 
good  and  to  do  good,  and,  if  not  to  make  others  good 
(for  there,  we  trust,  all  will  be  good  together),  to  enjoy 
the  fulness  of  that  pleasure  for  which  we  have  been 
longing  on  earth- — the  pleasure  of  seeing  others  good,  as 
Christ  is  good  and  perfect,  as  their  Father  in  heaven  is 
perfect. 

To  be  good  ourselves,  and  to  live  for  ever  in  good 
company — ah  my  friends,  that  is  true  bliss.  If  we  can- 
not reach  that  after  death,  it  were  better  for  us  that 
death  should  make  an  end  of  us,  and  that  when  our 
body  decays  in  the  grave  we  should  be  annihilated,  and 
become  nothing  for  ever. 

But  Easter  day  says  to  us,  If  you  labour  to  create 
good   company  'n   this   life,  by  trying   to   make    other 


The  Image  of  the  Earthly  and  the  Heavenly,  97 

people  round  you  good,  you  shall  enjoy  for  ever  in  the 
next  world  the  good  company  which  you  have  helped  to 
make.  If  you  labour  to  make  yourself  good  in  this  life, 
you  shall  enjoy  the  fruit  of  your  labour  in  the  next  life 
by  being  good,  and,  therefore,  blessed  for  ever.  Easter 
day  says.  Your  labour  is  not  vanity  and  vexation  of 
spirit.  It  is  solid  work,  which  shall  receive  solid  pay 
from  God  hereafter.  Easter  day  is  a  pledge — I  may 
say  a  sacrament — from  God  to  us,  that  He  will  right- 
eously reward  all  righteous  work ;  and  that,  therefore,  it 
is  worth  any  man's  while  to  labour,  to  suffer,  if  need  be 
even  to  die,  in  trying  to  be  good,  noble,  useful,  self- 
sacrificing,  as  Christ  toiled  and  suffered  and  died  and 
sacrificed  Himself  to  do  good.  For  then  he  will  share 
Christ's  reward,  as  he  has  shared  Christ's  labour,  and  be 
rewarded,  as  Christ  was,  by  resurrection  to  eternal  life. 

And  so  Easter  day  should  give  us  strength  to  live  like 
men — the  only  truly  manly,  truly  human  life  ;  the  life 
of  being  good  and  doing  good. 

And  strength  to  die.  Men  are  afraid  of  dying,  prin- 
cipally, I  believe,  because  they  fear  the  unknown.  It  is 
not  that  they  are  afraid  of  the  pain  of  dying.  It  is  not 
that  they  are  afraid  of  going  to  hell ;  for  in  all  my  ex- 
perience, at  least,  I  have  met  with  but  one  person  who 
thought  that  he  was  going  to  hell.  Neither  is  it 
that  they  are  afraid  of  not  going  to  heaven.  Their  ex- 
pectation almost  always  is,  that  they  are  going  thither. 
But  they  do  not  care  much  to  go  to  heaven.  They  are 
willing  enough  to  go  there,  because  they  know  that  they 
must  go  somewhere.  But  their  notions  of  what  h^ave^ 
will  be  like  are   by  no  means  clear.      They  have  sung 

G 


98   The  hnage  of  the  Earthly  and  the  Heavenly. 

rapturous  hymns  in  church  or  chapel  about  the  heavenly- 
Jerusalem,  and  passing  Jordan  safe  to  Canaan's  shore, 
with  no  very  clear  notion  of  what  the  words  meant — and 
small  blame  to  them. 

But  when  they  think  of  actually  dying,  they  feel  as  if 
to  go  into  the  next  world  was  to  be  turned  out  into  the 
dark  night,  into  an  unknown  land,  away  from  house  and 
home,  and  all  they  have  known,  and  all  they  have 
loved;  and  they  are  ready  to  say  with  the  good  old 
heathen  emperor,  when  he  lay  a-dying — 

"  Little  soul  of  mine,  wandering,  kindly, 
Companion  and  guest  of  my  body  ; 
Into  what  place  art  thou  now  departing, 
Shivering,  naked,  and  pale  % " 

And  so  they  shrink  from  death.  They  must  shrink 
from  death,  unless  they  will  believe  with  their  whole 
hearts  the  good  news  of  Easter  day.  The  more  thought- 
ful and  clever  they  are,  the  more  they  will  shrink  from 
death,  and  dread  the  thought  of  losing  their  bodies. 
They  have  always  had  bodies  here  on  earth.  They  only 
know  themselves  as  souls  embodied,  living  in  bodies ; 
and  they  cannot  think  of  themselves  in  the  next  world 
with  any  comfort,  if  they  may  not  think  of  themselves  as 
haying  bodies. 

And  the  more  loving  and  affectionate  they  are,  the 
more  they  will  shrink  from  death,  unless  they  believe 
with  their  whole  hearts  the  good  news  of  Eastev  day. 
For  those  whom  they  have  loved  on  earth  have  bodies. 
Through  their  bodies — through  their  voices,  their  looks, 
their  actions,  they  have  known  them,  and  thus  they  have 
loved  them  ;  and  if  their  beloved  ones  are  to  have  no 


The  Image  of  the  Earthly  and  the  Heavenly,  99 

bodies  in  the  world  to  come,  how  shall  they  see  them  ? 
how  shall  they  know  them  ?  how  shall  they  converse 
with  them  ?  It  seems  to  them  in  that  case  d either 
they,  nor  those  they  love,  would  be  the  same  persons  in 
the  world  to  come  they  are  here  ;  and  that  thought  is 
lonely  and  dreadful,  till  they  accept  the  good  news  of 
Easter  day,  the  thrice  blessed  words  of  St.  Paul,  in  his 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  which  they  hear  at  the  burial 
of  those  whom  they  love  and  lose.  Oh,  blessed  news 
for  us,  and  for  those  we  love ;  those  without  whose  com- 
pany the  world  to  come  would  be  lonely  and  cheerless  to 
us.  For  now  we  can  say.  Tell  me  not  that  as  the  beast 
dies,  so  dies  the  man.  Tell  me  not  that  as  Adam  died 
because  of  sin,  so  must  I  die,  and  all  I  love.  Tell  me 
not  that  it  is  the  universal  law  of  nature  that  all  things 
born  in  time  must  die  in  time  ;  aud  that  every  human 
being,  animal,  and  plant  carries  in  itself  from  its  be- 
ginning to  its  end  a  law  of  death,  the  seed  of  its  own 
destruction.  I  know  all  that  ;  but  I  care  little  for  it, 
because  I  know  more  than  that.  I  know  that  the  man's 
body  dies  as  the  beast's  body  dies  ;  but  I  know  that  the 
body  is  not  the  man,  but  only  the  husk,  the  shell  of  the 
man  ;  that  the  true  man,  the  true  woman,  lives  on  after 
the  loss  of  his  mortal  body  ;  and  that  there  is  an  eternal 
law  of  life,  which  conquers  the  law  of  death  ;  and  by 
that  law  a  fresh  body  will  grow  up  round  the  tme  man, 
the  immortal  spirit,  and  will  be  as  fit — ay,  far  fitter — to 
do  his  work,  than  this  poor  mortal  body  which  has 
turned  to  death  on  earth.  Tell  me  not  that  because  I 
am  descended  from  a  mortal  and  sinful  old  Adam,  of 
whom  it  is  written   that  he  was  of  the  earth,  eartlilj'. 


I  oo   The  Image  of  the  Earthly  and  the  Heavenly, 

therefore  my  soul  is  a  part  of  my  body,  and  dies  when 
my  body  dies.  I  belong  not  to  the  old  Adam,  but  to  the 
new  Adam — the  new  Head  of  men,  who  is  the  Lord 
from  heaven,  the  author  of  eternal  life  to  all  who  obey 
Him.  Do  not  tell  me  that  I  have  nothing  in  me  but 
the  likeness  of  the  old  Adam,  for  that  seems  to  me  and 
to  St.  Paul  nothing  but  the  likeness  of  the  fallen  savage 
and  the  brute  in  human  form.  I  know  I  have  more 
in  me — infinitely  more — than  that.  What  may  be  in 
store  for  the  savage,  the  brutal,  the  wicked,  is  God's 
concern,  not  mine.  But  what  is  in  store  for  me 
I  know — that  as  I  have  borne  the  image  of  the 
earthly,  so  shall  I  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly, 
if  only  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  the  new  Adam,  be  in 
me.  For  if  Christ  be  in  us,  "  the  body  is  dead  because 
of  sin  ;  but  the  Spirit  is  life  because  of  righteousness." 
And  if  the  Spirit  of  Him  which  raised  up  Jesus  from 
the  dead  dwell  in  us,  He  that  raised  up  Christ  from  the 
dead  shall  also  quicken  our  mortal  bodies  by  His  Spirit 
that  dwelleth  in  us.  How  He  will  do  it  I  know  not ; 
neither  do  I  care  to  know.  When  He  will  do  it  I  know 
not ;  but  it  will  be  when  it  ought  to  be  ;  and  that  is 
enough  for  me.  That  He  can  do  it  I  know,  for  He  is 
the  Maker  of  the  universe,  and  to  Him  all  power  is 
given  in  heaven  and  earth  ;  and  as  for  its  being  strange, 
wonderful,  past  understanding,  that  matters  little  to  me. 
That  will  be  but  one  wonder  more  in  a  world  where  all 
is  wonderful — one  more  mystery  in  an  utterly  mysteri- 
ous universe. 

And  so,  as  Easter  day  has  given   us  strength  to  live, 
let  Easter  day,  too,  give  us  strength  to  die. 


SERMON   XL 

EASTER   DAY. 

Chester  Cathedral.     1870. 

St  John  xii.  24,  25. 

"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the 
ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone :  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth 
much  fruit.  He  that  loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it ;  and  he  that 
hateth  his  life  in  this  world  shall  keep  it  unto  life  eternal." 

This  is  our  Lord's  own  parable.  In  it  He  tells  ns  that 
His  death,  His  resurrection,  His  ascension,  is  a  mystery 
which  we  may  believe,  not  only  because  the  Bible  tells 
us  of  it,  but  because  it  is  reasonable,  and  according  to 
the  laws  of  His  universe  ;  a  fulfilment,  rather  say  the 
highest  fulfilment,  of  one  of  those  laws  which  runs 
through  the  world  of  nature,  and  through  the  spiritual 
and  heavenly  world  likewise.  "  Except  a  corn  of  wheat 
fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone;" — barren, 
useless,  and  truly  dead  to  the  rest  of  the  world  around 
it,  because  it  is  shut  up  in  itself,  and  its  hidden  life, 
with  all  its  wondrous  powers  of  growth  and  fertility,  re- 
mains undeveloped,  and  will  remain  so,  till  it  decays  away, 
a  worthless  thing,  into  worthless  dust.  But  if  it  be  buried 
in  the  earth  a  while,  then  the  rich  life  which  lay  hid  in 
it  is  called  out  by  that  seeming  death,  and  it  sprouts, 
and  tillers,   and    flowers,   and  ripens  its    gi^ain — forty- 


I02  Easter  Day. 

fold,  sixty-fold,  an  hundred-fold  ;  and  so  it  shows  God's 
mind  and  will  concerning  it  It  shows  what  is  really  in 
it,  and  develops  the  full  capabilities  of  its  being.  Even 
so,  says  our  Lord,  would  His  death.  His  resurrection, 
His  ascension  be. 

He  speaks  of  His  own  resurrection  and  ascension;  yes, 
but  He  speaks  first  of  His  own  death.  Before  the  corn 
can  bring  forth  fruit,  and  show  what  is  in  it,  fulfilling 
the  law  of  its  being,  it  must  fall  into  the  ground  and  die. 
Before  our  Lord  could  fulfil  the  prophecy,  ''  Thou  wilt 
not  leave  my  soul  in  hell,  neither  wilt  Thou  suffer  Thy 
Holy  One  to  see  corruption,"  He  must  fulfil  the  darker 
prophecy  of  that  awful  88th  Psalm,  the  only  one  of  all 
the  psalms  which  ends  in  sorrow,  in  all  but  despair, 
"  My  soul  is  full  of  trouble,  and  my  life  draweth  nigh 
unto  hell.  I  am  counted  as  one  of  them  that  go  down 
into  the  pit :  and  I  have  been  even  as  a  man  that  hath 
no  strength.  Free  among  the  dead,  like  unto  them  that 
are  wounded  and  lie  in  the  grave,  who  are  out  of 
remembrance,  and  are  cut  away  from  thy  hand."  So 
it  was  to  be.  So,  we  may  believe,  it  needed  to  be. 
Christ  must  suflfer  before  He  entered  into  His  glory.  He 
must  die,  before  He  could  rise.  He  must  descend  into 
hell,  before  He  ascended  into  heaven.  For  this  is  the 
law  of  God's  kingdom.  Without  a  Good  Friday,  there 
can  be  no  Easter  Day.  Without  self-  sacrifice,  there  can 
be  no  blessedness,  neither  in  earth  nor  in  heaven.  He 
that  loveth  his  life  will  lose  it.  He  that  hateth  his  life 
in  this  paltry,  selfish,  luxurious,  hypocritical  world,  shall 
keep  it  to  life  eternal.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  fulfilled 
that  law;  because  it  is  the  law,  the  law  not  of  Moses,  but 


Easter  Day.  103 

of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  must  be  fulfilled  by  him 
who  would  fulfil  all  righteousness,  and  be  perfect,  even 
as  his  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect. 

Bear  this  in  mind,  I  pray  you,  and  whenever  you 
think  of  our  Lord's  resurrection  and  ascension,  remember 
always  that  the  background  to  His  triumph  is — a  tomb. 
Eemember  that  it  is  the  triumph  over  suffering ;  a 
triumph  of  One  who  still  bears  the  prints  of  the  nails  in 
His  hands  and  in  His  feet,  and  the  wound  of  the  spear 
in  His  side  ;  like  many  a  poor  soul  who  has  followed 
Him  triumphant  at  last,  and  yet  scarred,  and  only  not 
maimed  in  the  hard  battle  of  life.  E-emember  for  ever 
the  adorable  w^ounds  of  Christ.  Remember  for  ever 
that  St  John  saw  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  of  God  the 
likeness  of  a  lamb,  as  it  had  been  slain.  For  so  alone 
you  will  learn  what  our  Lord's  resurrection  and  ascension 
are  to  all  who  have  to  suffer  and  to  toil  on  earth.  For 
if  our  Lord's  triumph  had  had  no  suffering  before  it, — if 
He  had  conquered  as  the  Hindoos  represent  their  gods 
as  conquering  their  enemies,  without  effort,  without  pain, 
destroying  them,  with  careless  ease,  by  lightnings,  hurled 
by  a  hundred  hands  and  aided  by  innumerable  armies  of 
spirits, — what  would  such  a  triumph  have  been  to  us  ? 
What  comfort,  what  example  to  us  here  struggling,  often 
sinning,  in  this  piecemeal  world  ?  We  want — and 
blessed  be  God,  we  have — a  Captain  of  our  salvation, 
who  has  been  made  perfect  by  sufferings.  We  want 
— and  blessed  be  God,  we  have — an  High  Priest  who 
can  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities,  be- 
cause He  has  been  tempted  in  all  things  like  as  we  are, 
yet  without  sin.      We  want — and  blessed  be  God,  we 


I04  Easter  Day. 

have — a  King  who  was  glorified  by  suffering,  that,  if  we 
are  ever  called  on  to  sacrifice  ourselves,  we  may  hope, 
by  suffering,  to  share  His  glory.  And  when  we  have 
remembered  this,  and  fixed  it  in  our  minds,  we  may  go 
on  safely  to  think  of  His  glory,  and  see  that  (as  I  said  at 
first)  His  resurrection  and  ascension  satisfy  our  con- 
sciences,— satisfy  that  highest  reason  and  moral  sense 
within  us,  which  is  none  other  than  the  voice  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

For  see.  Our  Lord  proved  Himself  to  be  the  per- 
fectly righteous  Being,  by  His  very  passion.  He  proved 
it  by  being  righteous  utterly  against  His  own  interest ; 
by  enduring  shame,  torment,  death,  for  righteousness' 
sake.  But  we  feel  that  our  Lord's  history  could  not, 
must  not,  end  there.  Our  conscience,  which  is  our 
highest  reason,  shrinks  from  that  thought.  If  our  Lord 
had  died  and  never  risen,  then  would  His  history  be  full 
of  nothing  but  despair  to  all  who  long  to  copy  Him  and 
do  right  at  all  costs.  Our  consciences  demand  that  God 
should  be  just.  We  say  with  Abraham,  *'  Shall  not  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ? "  Shall  not  He,  who 
suffered  without  hope  of  reward,  have  His  reward  never- 
theless ?  Shall  not  He  who  cried,  ''  My  God  !  my  God  ! 
why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me  ? "  be  justified  by  having  it 
proved  to  all  the  world  that  God  had  not  forsaken  Him? 
But  we  surely  cannot  be  more  just  than  God.  If  we 
expect  God  to  do  right,  we  shall  surely  find  that  He  has 
done  right,  and  more  right  than  we  could  expect  or 
dream.  Therefore  we  may  believe — I  say  that  we  must 
believe,  if  we  be  truly  reasonable  beings — what  the 
Bible  tells  us ;  that  Christ,  who  suffered   more  than  all, 


Easter  Day.  105 

was  rewarded  more  than  all ;  that  Christ,  who  humbled 
Himself  more  than  all,  was  exalted  more  than  all ;  and 
that  His  resurrection  and  ascension,  as  St  Paul  tells  us 
again  and  again,  was  meant  to  show  men  this, — to 
show  them  that  God  the  Father  has  been  infinitely  just 
to  the  infinite  merits  of  God  the  Son,  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord, — to  justify  our  Lord  to  all  mankind  by  His  triumph 
over  death  and  hell,  and  in  justifying  Him  to  justify  His 
Father  and  our  Father,  his  God  and  our  God. 

And  what  is  true  of  Christ  must  be  true  of  us,  the 
members  of  Christ.  He  is  entered  into  His  rest,  and 
you  desire  to  enter  into  it  likewise.  You  have  a  right 
to  desire  it,  for  it  is  written,  "  There  remaineth  a  rest 
for  the  people  of  God."  Remember,  then,  that  true  rest 
can  only  be  attained  as  He  attained  it,  through  labour. 
You  desire  to  be  glorified  with  Christ.  Remember 
that  true  glory  can  only  be  attained  in  earth  or  heaven 
through  self-sacrifice.  Whosoever  will  save  his  life 
shall  lose  it ;  whosoever  will  lose  his  life  shall  save  it. 
If  that  eternal  moral  law  held  good  enough  for  the  sin- 
less Christ,  who,  though  He  were  a  son,  yet  learned 
obedience  by  the  things  which  He  suffered,  how  much 
more  must  it  hold  good  of  you  and  me  and  all  moral  and 
rational  beings, — yea,  for  the  very  angels  in  heaven. 
They  have  not  sinned.  That  we  know ;  and  we  do  not 
know,  and  I  presume  cannot  know,  that  they  have  ever 
suffered.  But  this  at  least  we  know,  that  they  have 
submitted.  They  have  obeyed  and  have  given  up  their 
own  wills  to  be  the  ministers  of  God's  will.  In  them  is 
neither  self-will  nor  selfishness  ;  and  therefore  by  faith, 
that  is,  by  trust  and   loyalty,  they  stand.      And  so,  by 


io6  Easter  Day, 

consenting  to  lose  their  individual  life  of  selfishness,  they 
have  saved  their  eternal  life  in  God,  the  life  of  blessed- 
ness and  holiness ;  just  as  all  evil  spirits  have  lost  their 
eternal  life  by  trying  to  save  their  selfish  life,  and  be 
something  in  themselves  and  of  themselves  vvdthout  re- 
spect to  God. 

This  is  a  great  mystery ;  indeed,  it  is  the  mystery  of 
the  eternal,  divine,  and  blessed  life,  to  which  God  of  His 
mercy  bring  us  all.  And  therefore  Good  Friday,  Easter 
Day,  Ascension  Day,  are  set  as  great  lights  in  the  firma- 
ment of  the  spiritual  year, — to  remind  us  that  we  are  not 
animals,  born  to  do  what  we  like,  and  fulfil  the  sinful 
lusts  of  the  flesh,  the  ways  whereof  are  death  ;  but  that 
we  are  moral  and  rational  beings,  members  of  Christ, 
children  of  God,  inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ; 
and  that,  therefore,  I  say  it  again,  like  Christ  our 
Lord,  we  must  die  in  order  to  live,  stoop  in  order  to  con- 
quer. They  remind  us  that  honour  must  grow  out  of 
humility  ;  that  freedom  must  grow  out  of  discipline  ;  that 
sure  conquest  must  be  born  of  heavy  struggles  ;  right- 
eous joy  out  of  righteous  sorrow ;  pure  laughter  out  of 
pure  tears ;  true  strength  out  of  the  true  knowledge  of 
our  own  weakness ;  sound  peace  of  mind  out  of  sound 
contrition  ;  and  that  the  heart  which  has  a  right  to  cry, 
"  The  Lord  is  on  my  side,  I  will  not  fear  what  man 
doeth  unto  me,"  must  be  born  out  of  the  heart  which  has 
cried,  "God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner !"  They  remind  us 
that  in  all  things,  as  says  our  Lord,  there  cannot  be  joy, 
because  a  man  is  born  into  the  world,  unless  there  first 
be  sorrow,  because  the  hour  of  birth  is  come  ;  and  that 
he  who  would  be  planted  into  the  likeness  of  Christ's 


Easter  Day.  107 

resurrection,  must,  like  the  corn  of  wheat,  be  first  planted 

into  the  likeness  of  His  death,  and  die  to  sin  and  self, 

that  he  may  live  to  righteousness  and  to  God  ;  and,  like 

the  corn  of  wheat,  become  truly  living,  truly  strong,  truly 

rich,  truly  useful,  and  develop  the  hidden  capabilities  of  his 

being,  fulfilling  the  mind  and  will  of  God  concerning  him. 

Again,  I   say,  this  is  a  great  mystery.      But  again,  I 

say,  this  is  the  law,  not  Moses'  law,  but  the  Gospel  law  ; 

• — the   law  of  liberty,  by  which   a  man   becomes  truly 

free,  because  he  has  trampled  under  foot  the  passions  of 

his  own  selfish  flesh,  till  his  immortal  spirit  can  ascend 

fi'ee  into  the  light  of  God,  and  into  the  love  of  God,  and 

into  the  beneficence  of  God.     My  dear  friends,  remember 

these  words,  for  they  are  true.     Kemember  that  St  Paul 

always  couples  with  the  resurrection  and  ascension  of  our 

bodies  in  the  next  life  the  resurrection  and  ascension  of 

our  souls  in  this  life  ;  for  without  that,  the  resurrection 

of  our  bodies  would  be  but  a  resurrection  to  fresh  sin, 

and  therefoi'e  to  fresh  misery  and  ruin.      Bemember  his 

great  words  about  that  moral  resurrection  and  ascension 

of  our  wills,   our    hearts,   our    characters,   our    actions. 

"  God,"  he  says,  ''  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for  His  great 

love,  wherewith  He  loved  us,  even  when  we  were  dead 

in  sins,  hath  quickened  us  together  with  Christ,  (by  grace 

are  ye  saved  ;)  and  hath  raised  us  up  together,  and  made 

us  sit  together  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus." 

And  what  are  those  heavenly  places  ?  And  what  is 
our  duty  in  them  ?  Let  St  Paul  himself  answer.  "  If  ye 
then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are 
above,  where  Christ  sittcth  at  the  right  hand  of  God." 
And  what  are  they  ?      Let  St  Paul  answer  once  more ; 


io8  Easter  Day, 

who  should  know  better  than  he,  save  Christ  alone  ? 
"  Whatsoever  things  are  true,  honest,  just,  pure,  lovely, 
of  good  report.  If  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be 
any  praise,  think  on  these  things." 

Yes,  think  of  these  things, — and,  thinking  of  them,  ask 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  to  inspire  you,  and  make  a  Whit- 
suntide in  your  hearts,  even  as  He  has  made,  I  trust,  a 
Good  Friday  and  an  Eastertide  and  an  Ascension  Day  ; 
that  so,  knowing  these  things,  you  may  be  blessed  in 
doing  them  ;  that  so — and  so  only — may  be  fulfilled 
in  you  and  me  or  any  rational  being,  those  blessed 
promises  which  were  fulfilled  in  Christ  our  Lord.  "They 
that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy."  "  He  that  now 
goeth  on  his  way  weeping,  and  beareth  forth  good  seed, 
shall  doubtless  come  again  with  joy,  and  bring  his  sheaves 
with  him."  "  Blessed  is  the  man  whose  strength  is  in 
Thee,  in  whose  heart  are  Thy  ways ;  who  going  through 
the  vale  of  misery,  use  it  for  a  well,  and  the  pools  are 
filled  with  water.  They  will  go  from  strength  to 
strength :  and  unto  the  God  of  gods  appeareth  every 
one  of  them  in  Si  on."  To  which  may  God  in  His  great 
mercy  bring  us  all.      Amen, 


SERMON  XIL 

PRESENCE    IN    ABSENCE. 

Eversley,  third  Sunday  after  Easter.     1862. 

St  John  xvi.  16. 

*' A  little  while,  and  ye  shall  not  see  me  :  and  again,  a  little  while,  and 
ye  shall  see  me,  because  1  go  to  the  Father. " 

Divines  differ,  and,  perhaps,  have  always  differed,  about 
the  meaning  of  these  words.  Some  think  that  our  Lord 
speaks  in  them  of  His  death  and  resurrection.  Others 
that  He  speaks  of  His  ascension  and  coming  again  in 
glory.  I  cannot  decide  which  is  right.  I  dare  not  de- 
cide. It  is  a  very  solemn  thing — too  solemn  for  me — 
to  say  of  any  words  of  our  Lord's  they  mean  exactly  this 
or  that,  and  no  more.  For  if  wise  men's  words  have  (as 
they  often  have)  more  meanings  than  one,  and  yet  all 
true,  then  surely  the  words  of  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God, 
who  spake  as  never  man  spake — His  words,  I  say,  may 
have  many  meanings ;  yea,  meanings  without  end,  mean- 
ings which  we  shall  never  fully  understand,  perhaps  even 
in  heaven,  and  yet  all  alike  true. 

But  I  think  it  is  certain  that  most  of  the  early  Chris- 
tians understood  these  words  of  our  Lord's  ascension  and 
coming  again  in  glory.  They  believed  that  He  was 
coming  again  in  a  very  little  while  during  their  own  life- 
time, in  a  few  months  or  years,  to  make  an  end  of  the 


no  Presence  in  Absence, 

world  and  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.  An  1  as  they 
waited  for  His  coming,  one  generation  after  another, 
and  yet  He  did  not  come,  a  sadness  fell  upon  them. 
Christ  seemed  to  have  left  the  world.  The  little  while 
that  He  had  promised  to  be  away  seemed  to  have  be- 
come a  very  long  while.  Hundreds  of  years  passed,  and 
yet  Christ  did  not  come  in  glory.  And,  as  I  said,  a 
sadness  fell  on  all  the  Church.  Surely,  they  said,  this 
is  the  time  of  which  Christ  said  we  were  to  weep  and 
lament  till  we  saw  Him  again — this  is  the  time  of  which 
He  said  that  the  bridegroom  should  be  taken  from  us, 
and  we  should  fast  in  those  days.  And  they  did  fast, 
and  weep,  and  lament ;  and  their  religion  became  a  very 
sad  and  melancholy  one — most  sad  in  those  who  were 
most  holy,  and  loved  their  Lord  best,  and  longed  most 
for  His  coming  in  glory. 

What  happened  after  that  again  I  could  tell  you,  but 
we  have  nothing  to  do  with  it  to-day.  We  will  rather  go 
back,  and  see  what  the  Lord's  disciples  thought  He  meant 
when  He  said, — *'A  little  while,  and  ye  shall  not  see 
me ;  and  again,  a  little  while,  and  ye  shall  see  me, 
because  I  go  to  the  Father."  One  would  think,  surely, 
that  they  must  have  taken  those  words  to  mean  His 
death  and  resurrection.  They  heard  Him  speak  them 
on  the  very  night  that  He  was  betrayed.  They  saw  Him 
taken  from  them  that  very  night.  In  horror  and  agony 
they  saw  Him  mocked  and  scourged,  crucified,  dead,  and 
buried,  as  they  thought  for  ever,  and  the  world  around 
rejoicing  over  His  death.  Surely  they  wept  and  lamented 
then.  Surely  they  thought  that  He  had  gone  away  and 
left  them  then. 


Presence  in  Absence.  1 1 1 

And  the  tliird  day,  beyond  all  h.ope  or  expectation, 
they  beheld  Him  alive  again,  unchanged,  perfect,  and 
glorious — as  near  them  and  as  faithful  to  them  as  ever. 
Surely  that  was  seeing  Him  again  after  a  little  while. 
Surely  then  their  sorrow  was  turned  to  joy.  Surely  then 
a  man,  the  man  of  all  men,  was  born  into  the  world  a 
second  time,  and  in  them  was  fulfilled  our  Lord's  most 
exquisite  parable — most  human  and  yet  most  divine — 
of  the  mother  remembering  no  more  her  anguish  for  joy 
that  a  man  is  born  into  the  world. 

I  think,  too,  that  we  may  see,  by  the  disciples'  con- 
duct, that  they  took  these  words  of  the  text  to  speak  of 
Christ's  death  and  resurrection.  For  when  He  ascended 
to  heaven  out  of  their  sight,  did  they  consider  that  was 
seeiDg  Him  no  more  ?  Did  they  think  that  He  had 
gone  away  and  left  them  ?  Did  they,  therefore,  as  would 
have  been  natural,  weep  and  lament?  On  the  contrary, 
we  are  told  expressly  by  St  Luke  that  they  "'returned 
to  Jerusalem  with  great  joy  ;  and  were  continually  in  the 
temple."  not  wetriping  and  lamenting,  but  praising  and 
blessing  God.  Plainly  they  did  not  consider  that  Christ 
was  parted  from  them  w^hen  He  ascended  into  heaven. 
He  had  been  training  them  during  the  forty  days  between 
Easter  Day  and  Ascension  Day  to  think  of  Him  as 
continually  near  them,  whether  they  saw  Him  or  not. 
Suddenly  He  came  and  went  again.  Mysteriously  He 
appeared  and  disappeared.  He  showed  them  that 
though  they  saw  not  Him,  He  saw  them,  heard  their 
words,  knew  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  their  hearts. 
He  was  always  near  them  they  felt ;  with  them  to  the 
end  of  the  world,  whether  in  sight  or  out  of  sight.     And 


1 1 2  Presence  in  Absence, 

when  they  saw  Him  ascend  into  heaven,  it  seemed  to 
them  no  separation,  no  calamity,  no  change  in  His  rela- 
tion to  them.  He  was  gone  to  heaven.  Surely  He  had 
been  in  heaven  during  those  forty  days,  whenever  they 
had  not  seen  Him.  He  had  gone  to  the  Father. 
Might  He  not  have  been  with  the  Father  during  those 
forty  days,  whenever  they  had  not  seen  Him  ?  Nay ; 
was  He  not  always  in  heaven  ?  Was  not  heaven  very 
near  them  ?  Did  not  Christ  bring  heaven  with  Him 
whithersoever  He  went?  Was  He  not  always  with  the 
Father,  the  Father  who  fills  all  things,  in  whom  all 
created  things  live,  and  move,  and  have  their  being  ? 
How^  could  they  have  thought  otherwise  about  our  Lord, 
when  almost  His  last  words  to  them  were  not,  Lo,  I  leave 
you  alone,  but,  *'  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the 
end  of  the  world." 

My  friends,  these  may  seem  deep  word^  to  some- 
doubtless  they  are,  for  they  are  the  words  of  the  Bible 
— so  deep  that  plain,  unlearned  people  can  make  no  use 
of  them,  and  draw  no  lesson  from  them.  I  do  not  think 
so.  I  think  it  is  of  endless  use  and  endless  importance 
to  you  how  you  think  about  Christ ;  and,  therefore,  how 
you  think  about  these  forty  days  between  our  Lord's 
resurrection  and  ascension.  You  may  think  of  our  Lord 
in  two  ways.  You  may  think  of  Him  as  having  gone 
very  far  away,  millions  of  millions  of  miles  into  the  sky, 
and  not  to  return  till  the  last  day, — and  then,  I  do  not 
say  that  you  will  weep  and  lament.  There  are  not 
many  who  have  that  notion  about  our  Lord,  and  yet 
love  Him  enough  to  weep  and  lament  at  the  thought 
of   His   having  gone  away.      But    your  religion,   when 


Presence  in  Absence.  1 1 3 

it  wakes  up  in  you,  will  be  a  melancholy  and  terrify- 
ing one.  I  say,  when  it  wakes  up  in  you — for  you 
will  be  tempted  continually  to  let  it  go  to  sleep. 
There  will  come  over  you  the  feeling — God  forgive 
us,  does  it  not  come  over  us  all  but  too  often  ? — Christ 
is  far  away.  Does  He  see  me  ?  Does  He  hear  me  ? 
Will  He  find  me  out  ?  Does  it  matter  very  much  what 
I  say  and  do  now,  provided  I  make  my  peace  with  Him 
before  I  die  ?  And  so  will  come  over  you  not  merely  a 
carelessness  about  religious  duties,  about  prayer,  reading, 
church -going,  but  worse  still,  a  carelessness  about  right 
and  wrong.  You  will  be  in  danger  of  caring  little  about 
controlling  your  passions,  about  speaking  the  truth,  about 
being  just  and  merciful  to  your  fellow-men.  And  then, 
when  your  conscience  wakes  you  up  at  times,  and  cries, 
Prepare  to  meet  thy  God  !  you  will  be  terrified  and 
anxious  at  the  thought  of  judgment,  and  shrink  from  the 
thought  of  Christ's  seeing  you.  My  friends,  that  is  a 
fearful  state,  though  a  very  common  one.  What  is  it 
but  a  foretaste  of  that  dreadful  terror  in  which  those 
who  would  not  see  in  Christ  their  Lord  and  Saviour  will 
call  on  the  mountains  to  fall  on  them,  and  the  hills  to 
cover  them,  from  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and 
from  the  anger  of  the  Lamb  ? 

But,  again  :  you  may  think  of  Christ  as  His  truest 
servants,  though  they  might  have  been  long  in  darkness, 
in  all  ages  and  countries  have  thought  of  Him,  sooner 
or  later.  And  they  thought  of  Him,  as  the  disciples 
did  ;  as  of  One  who  was  about  their  path  and  about  their 
bed,  and  spying  out  all  their  ways  ;  as  One  who  was  in 
heaven,  but  who,  for  that  very  reason,  was  bringing  heaven 

H 


1 14  Presence  in  Absence. 

down  to  earth  continually  in  the  gracious  inspirations  of 
His  Holy  Spirit ;  as  One  who  brought  heaven  down  to 
them  as  often  as  He  visited  their  hearts  and  comforted 
them  with  sweet  assurance  of  His  love,  His  faithfulness, 
His  power — as  God  grant  that  He  may  comfort  those  of 
you  who  need  comfort.  And  that  thought,  that  Christ 
was  always  with  them,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world, 
sobered  and  steadied  them,  and  yet  refreshed  and  com- 
forted them.  It  sobered  them.  What  else  could  it  do  ? 
Does  it  not  sober  us  to  see  even  a  picture  of  Christ  cruci- 
fied ?  How  must  it  have  sobered  them  to  carry,  as  good 
St  Ignatius  used  to  say  of  himself,  Christ  crucified  in  his 
heart.  A  man  to  whom  Christ,  as  it  were,  showed  per- 
petually His  most  blessed  wounds,  and  said.  Behold  what 
I  have  endured — how  dare  he  give  way  to  his  passion  ? 
How  dare  he  be  covetous,  ambitious,  revengeful,  false  ? 
And  yet  it  cheered  and  comforted  them.  How  could 
it  do  otherwise,  to  know  all  day  long  that  He  who  was 
wounded  for  their  iniquities,  and  by  whose  stripes  they 
were  healed,  was  near  them  day  and  night,  watching 
over  them  as  a  father  over  his  child,  saying  to  them, — 
*'  Fear  not,  I  am  He  that  was  dead,  and  am  alive  for 
evermore,  and  I  hold  the  keys  of  death  and  hell. 
Though  thou  walkest  through  the  fires,  I  will  be  with 
thee.  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee."  Yes, 
my  friends,  if  you  wish  your  life — and  therefore  your 
religion,  which  ought  to  be  the  very  life  of  your  life — to 
be  at  once  sober  and  cheerful,  full  of  earnestness  and  full 
of  hope,  believe  our  Lord's  words  which  He  spoke  during 
these  very  forty  days, — "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even 
to  the  end  of  the  world."      Believe  that  heavec  has  not 


Presence  in  Absence,  1 1 5 

taken  Him  away  from  you,  but  brought  Him  nearer  to 
you;  and  that  He  has  ascended  up  on  high,  not  that  He, 
in  whom  alone  is  life,  might  empty  this  earth  of  His 
presence,  birt  that  He  might  fill  all  things,  not  this  earth 
only,  but  all  worlds,  past,  present,  and  to  come.  Believe 
that  wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in 
Christ's  name,  there  He  is  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  that 
the  holy  communion  is  the  sign  of  His  perpetual  pre- 
sence ;  and  that  when  you  kneel  to  receive  the  bread  and 
wine,  Christ  is  as  near  you — spiritually,  indeed,  and  in- 
visibly, but  really  and  truly — as  near  you  as  those  who 
are  kneeling  by  your  side. 

And  if  it  be  so  with  Christ,  then  it  is  so  with  those 
who  are  Christ's,  with  those  whom  we  love.  It  is  the 
Christ  in  them  which  we  love  ;  and  that  Christ  in  them 
is  their  hope  of  glory  ;  and  that  glory  is  the  glory  of 
Christ.  They  are  partakers  of  His  death,  therefore  they 
are  partakers  of  His  resurrection.  Let  us  believe  that 
blessed  news  in  all  its  fulness,  and  be  at  peace.  A  little 
while  and  we  see  them  ;  and  again  a  little  while  and  we 
do  not  see  them.  But  why  ?  Because  they  are  gone 
to  the  Father,  to  the  source  and  fount  of  all  life  and 
power,  all  light  and  love,  that  they  may  gain  life  from 
His  life,  power  from  His  power,  light  from  His  light, 
love  from  His  love — and  surely  not  for  nought  ? 

Surely  not  for  nought,  my  friends.  For  if  they  were 
like  Christ  on  earth,  and  did  not  use  their  powers  for 
themselves  alone,  if  they  are  to  be  like  Christ  when  they 
shall  see  Him  as  He  is,  then,  more  surely,  will  they  not 
use  their  powers  for  themselves,  but,  as  Christ  uses  His, 
for  those  they  love. 


1 16  Presence  in  Absence. 

Surely,  like  Christ,  they  may  come  and  go,  even  now, 
unseen.  Like  Christ,  they  may  breathe  upon  our  rest- 
less hearts  and  say.  Peace  be  unto  you — and  not  in  vain. 
For  what  they  did  for  us  when  they  were  on  earth  they 
can  more  fully  do  now  that  they  are  in  heaven.  They 
may  seem  to  have  left  us,  and  we,  like  the  disciples, 
may  weep  and  lament.  But  the  day  will  come  when 
the  veil  shall  be  taken  from  our  eyes,  and  we  shall  see 
them  as  they  are,  with  Christ,  and  in  Christ  for  ever ; 
and  remember  no  more  our  anguish  for  joy  that  a  man 
is  born  into  the  world,  that  another  human  being  has 
entered  that  one  true,  real,  and  eternal  world,  wherein 
is  neither  disease,  disorder,  change,  decay,  nor  death,  for 
it  is  none  other  than  the  Bosom  of  the  Father. 


SERMON     XIII. 

ASCENSION    DAY. 

Eversley.    Chester  Cathedral.     1872. 

St  John  viii.  58. 
** Before  Abraham  was,  I  am." 

Let  us  consider  these  words  awhile.  They  are  most  fit 
for  our  thoughts  on  this  glorious  day,  on  which  the  Lc  rd 
Jesus  ascended  to  His  Father,  and  to  our  Father,  to 
His  God,  and  to  our  God,  that  He  might  be  glorified 
with  the  glory  which  He  had  with  the  Father  before 
the  making  of  the  world.  For  it  is  clear  that  we  shall 
better  understand  Ascension  Day,  just  as  we  shall  better 
understand  Christmas  or  Eastertide,  the  better  we  under- 
stand Who  it  was  who  was  born  at  Christmas,  suffered 
and  rose  at  Eastertide,  and,  as  on  this  day,  ascended  into 
heaven.  Who,  then,  was  He  whose  ascent  we  celebrate  ? 
What  was  that  glory  which,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  of 
divine  things,  He  resumed  as  on  this  day? 

Let  us  think  a  few  minutes,  with  all  humility,  not 
rashly  intruding  ourselves  into  the  things  we  have  not 
seen,  or  meddling  with  divine  matters  which  are  too 
hard  for  us,  but  taking  our  Lord's  words  simply  as  they 
stand,  and  where  we  do  not  understand  them,  believing 
*hem  nevertheless. 


ii8  Ascension  Day, 

Now  it  is  clear  that  the  book  of  Exodus  and  our 
Lord's  words  speak  of  the  same  person.  The  Okl  Testa- 
ment tells  of  a  personage  who  appeared  to  Moses  in  the 
wilderness,  and  who  called  Himself  "  the  Lord  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob."  But  this  personage  also 
calls  Himself  ''  I  AM."  "  I  AM  THAT  I  AM  :"  "and 
He  said,  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  I  AM  hath  sent  me  unto  you." 

In  the  New  Testament  we  read  of  a  personage  who 
calls  Himself  the  Son  of  God,  is  continually  called  the 
Lord,  and  who  tells  His  disciples  to  call  Him  by  that  name 
without  reproving  them,  though  they  and  He  knew  well 
what  it  meant — that  it  meant  no  less  than  this,  that 
He,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  poor  mortal  man  as  He  seemed, 
was  still  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob. 
I  do  not  say  that  the  disciples  saw  that  at  first,  clearly 
or  fully,  till  after  our  Lord's  resurrection.  But  there 
was  one  moment  shortly  before  His  death,  when  they 
could  have  had  no  doubt  who  He  assumed  Himself  to 
be.  For  the  unbelieving  Jews  had  no  doubt,  and  con- 
sidered Him  a  blasphemer  ;  and  these  were  His  awful 
and  wonderful  words — I  do  not  pretend  to  understand 
them — I  take  them  simply  as  I  find  them,  and  believe 
and  adore.  '*  Your  father  Abraham  rejoiced  to  see  my 
day,  and  he  saw  it,  and  was  glad.  Then  said  the  Jews 
unto  Him,  Thou  art  not  yet  fifty  years  old,  and  hast 
Thou  seen  Abraham  ? "  One  cannot  blame  them  for 
asking  that  question,  for  Abraham  had  been  dead  then 
nearly  two  thousand  years.  But  what  is  our  Lord's 
solemn  answer  ?  *'  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  before 
Abraham  was,  I  am.'' 


Ascension  Day,  1 1 9 

"  I  Am."  The  same  name  by  which  our  Lord  God 
had  revealed  Himself  to  Moses  in  the  wilderness,  some 
sixteen  hundred  years  before.  If  these  words  were  true, 
— and  the  Lord  prefaces  them  with  Verily,  verily, 
Amen,  Amen,  which  was  as  solemn  an  asseveration  as 
any  oath  could  be — then  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  none 
other  than  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Moses,  the 
God  of  the  Jews,  the  God  of  the  whole  universe,  past, 
present,  and  to  come. 

Let  us  think  awhile  over  this  wonder  of  all  wonders. 
The  more  we  think  over  it,  we  shall  find  it  not  only  the 
wonder  of  all  wonders,  but  the  good  news  of  all  good 
news. 

The  deepest  and  soundest  philosophers  will\ell  us 
that  there  must  be  an  ''  I  Am."  That  is,  as  they  would 
sa}^  a  self-existent  Being;  neither  made  nor  created,  but 
who  has  made  and  created  all  things ;  who  is  without 
parts  and  passions,  and  is  incomprehensible,  that  is 
cannot  be  comprehended,  limited,  made  smaller  or 
weaker,  or  acted  on  in  any  way  by  any  of  the  things 
that  He  has  made.  So  that  this  self-existing  Being 
whom  we  call  God,  would  be  exactly  what  He  is  now, 
if  the  whole  universe,  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  were 
destroyed  this  moment ;  and  would  be  exactly  what  He 
is  now,  if  there  had  never  been  any  universe  at  all,  or 
any  thing  or  being  except  His  own  perfect  and  self- 
existent  Self.  For  He  lives  and  moves  and  has  His 
being  in  nothing.  But  all  things  live  and  move  and 
have  their  being  in  Him.  He  was  before  all  things,  and 
by  Him  all  things  consist.  And  this  is  the  Catholic 
Faith;   and  not  only  that,  this  is  according  to  sound  and 


I20  Ascejtsion  Day. 

right  reason.  Bat  more  :  the  soundest  philosophers  will 
tell  you  that  God  must  be  not  merely  a  self-existent 
Being,  but  the  "  I  Am  :"  that  if  God  is  a  Spirit,  and 
not  merely  a  name  for  some  powers  and  laws  of  brute 
nature  and  matter,  He  must  be  able  to  say  to  Himself, 
"I  Am  :"  that  He  must  know  Himself,  that  He  must  be 
conscious  of  Himself,  of  who  and  what  He  is,  as  you 
and  I  are  conscious  of  ourselves,  and  more  or  less  of  who 
and  what  we  are.  And  this,  also,  I  believe  to  be  true, 
and  rational,  and  necessary  to  the  Catholic  Faith. 

But  they  will  tell  you  again — and  this,  too,  is  surely 
true — that  I  Am  must  be  the  very  name  of  God,  because 
God  alone  can  say  perfectly,  "  I  Am,"  and  no  more. 
You  and  I  dare  not,  if  we  think  accurately,  say  of 
ourselves,  "  I  am."  We  may  say,  I  am  this  or  that ;  I 
am  a  man;  I  am  an  Englishman  ;  but  we  must  not  say, 
"  I  am;"  that  is,  "  I  exist  of  myself."  We  must  say — 
not  I  am ;  but  I  become,  or  have  become ;  I  was  made ; 
I  was  created ;  I  am  growing,  changing  ;  I  dej^end  for 
my  very  existence  on  God  and  God's  will,  and  if  He 
willed,  I  should  be  nothing  and  nowhere  in  a  moment. 
God  alone  can  say,  I  Am,  and  there  is  none  beside 
Me,  and  never  has,  nor  can  be.  I  exist,  absolutely,  and 
simply;  because  I  choose  to  exist,  and  get  life  from 
nothing ;  for  I  Am  the   Life,  and  give  life  to  all  things. 

But  you  may  say.  What  is  all  this  to  us  ?  It  is  very 
difficult  to  understand,  and  dreary,  and  even  awful. 
Why  should  we  care  for  it,  even  if  it  be  true  ?  Yes, 
my  frieuds  ;  philosophy  may  be  true,  and  yet  be  dreary, 
and  awful,  and  have  no  gospel  and  good  news  in  it  at 
all.    I  believe  it  never  can  have  ;  that  only  in  Revelation, 


Ascension  Day.  121 

and  in  the  Revelation  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  can  poor 
human  beings  find  any  gospel  and  good  news  at  all. 
And  sure  I  am,  that  that  is  an  awful  thought,  a  dreary 
thought,  a  crushing  thought,  which  makes  a  man  feel  as 
small,  and  worthless,  and  helpless,  and  hopeless,  as  a  grain 
of  dust,  or  a  mote  in  the  sunbeam — that  thought  of 
God  for  ever  contained  in  Himself,  and  saying  for  ever 
to  Himself,  "  I  Am,  and  there  is  none  beside  Me." 

But  the  Gospel,  the  good  news  of  the  Old  Testament, 
the  Gospel,  the  good  news  of  the  New  Testament,  is  the 
Revelation  of  God  and  God's  ways,  which  began  on 
Christmas  Day,  and  finished  on  Ascension  Day  :  and  what 
is  that  ?  What  but  this  ?  That  God  does  not  merely 
say  to  Himself  in  Majesty,  "  I  Am  ; "  but  that  He  goes 
out  of  Himself  in  Love,  and  says  to  men,  ^'  I  Am."  That 
He  is  a  God  who  has  spoken  to  poor  human  beings,  and 
told  them  who  He  was  ;  and  that  He,  the  I  Am,  the  self- 
existent  One,  the  Cause  of  life,  of  all  things,  even  the 
Maker  and  Ruler  of  the  Universe,  can  stoop  to  man — 
and  not  merely  to  perfect  men,  righteous  men,  holy  men, 
wise  men,  but  to  the  enslaved,  the  sinful,  the  brutish — 
that  He  may  deliver  them,  and  teach  them,  and  raise  them 
from  the  death  of  sin,  to  His  own  life  of  ris^hteousness. 

Do  you  not  see  the  difference,  the  infinite  difference, 
and  the  good  news  in  that  ?  Do  you  not  see  a  whole 
heaven  of  new  hope  and  new  duty  is  opened  to  man- 
kind in  that  one  fact — God  has  spoken  to  man.  He,  the 
I  Am,  the  Self-Existent,  who  needs  no  one,  and  no  thing, 
has  turned  aside,  as  it  were,  and  stooped  from  the  throne 
of  heaven,  again  and  again,  during  thousands  of  years, 
to    say    to    you,    and    me,    and    millions   of    mankind. 


122  Ascension  Day, 

I  Am  your  God.  How  do  you  prosper  ? — what  do  you 
need  ? — what  are  you  doing  ? — for  if  you  are  doing 
justice  to  yourself  and  your  fellowmen,  then  fear  not 
that  I  shall  be  just  to  you. 

And  more.  When  that  I  Am,  the  self-existent  God, 
could  not  set  sinful  men  right  by  saying  this,  then 
did  He  stoop  once  more  from  the  throne  of  the  heavens 
to  do  that  infinite  deed  of  love,  of  which  it  is  written, 
that  He  who  called  Himself  "I  Am,"  the  God  of 
Abraham,  was  conceived  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate,  rose 
again  the  third  day,  and  ascended  into  heaven, — that  He 
might  send  down  the  Spirit  of  the  "  I  Am,"  the  Holy 
Spirit  who  proceed eth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
upon  all  who  ask  Him ;  that  they  may  be  holy  as  God  is 
holy,  and  perfect  as  God  is  perfect.  Yes,  my  dear 
friends,  remember  that,  and  live  in  the  light  of  that ; 
the  gospel  of  good  news  of  the  Incarnation  of  Jesus 
Christ,  very  God  of  very  God  begotten.  Know  that 
God  has  spoken  to  you  as  He  spoke  to  Abraham,  and 
said, — I  am  the  Almighty  God,  walk  before  Me,  and  be 
thou  perfect.  Know  that  He  has  spoken  to  you  as  He 
spoke  to  Moses,  saying, — I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  who 
have  brought  you,  and  your  fathers  before  you,  out  of  the 
spiritual  Egypt  of  heathendom,  and  ignorance,  sin,  and 
wickedness,  into  the  knowledge  of  the  one,  true,  and 
righteous  God.  But  know  more,  that  He  has  spoken  to 
you  by  the  mouth  of  Jesus  Christ,  saying, — I  am  He 
that  died  in  the  form  of  mortal  man  upon  the  cross  for 
you.  And,  behold,  I  am  alive  for  evermore ;  and  to  me 
all  power  is  given  in  heaven  and  earth. 


Ascension  Day.  123 

Yes,  my  friends,  let  us  lay  to  heart,  even  upon  this 
joyful  day,  the  awful  warnings  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews, — God,  the  I  Am,  has  spoken  to  us ;  God,  the 
I  Am,  is  speaking  to  us  now.  See  that  you  refuse  not 
Him  that  speaketh ;  for  if  they  escaped  not  who  refused 
Moses  that  spake  on  earth,  much  more  shall  not  we  escape 
if  we  turn  away  from  Him  that  speaketh  from  heaven  ; 
wherefore  follow  peace  with  all  men,  and  holiness,  with- 
out which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord,  and  have  grace, 
whereby  we  may  serve  God  acceptably,  with  reverence 
and  godly  fear.  For  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire.  To 
those  who  disobey  Him,  eternal  wrath  ;  to  those  who 
love  Him,  eternal  love. 

Yes,  my  friends.  Let  us  believe  that,  and  live  in  the 
light  of  that,  with  reverence  and  godly  fear,  all  the  year 
round.  But  let  us  specially  to-day,  as  far  as  our  dull 
feelings  and  poor  imaginations  will  allow  us  ;  let  us,  1 
say,  adore  the  ascended  Saviour,  who  rules  for  ever,  a 
Man  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  of  the  universe,  and  that 
Man — oh,  wonder  of  wonders  ! — slain  for  us  ;  and  let  us 
say  with  St  Paul  of  old,  with  all  our  hearts  and  minds 
and  souls  : — Now  to  the  King  of  the  Ages,  immortal, 
invisible,  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  honour 
and  glory,  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen  ! 


SERMON    XIV. 

THE    COMFORTER. 

Eversley.    Sunday  after  Ascension  Day.     1868. 

St  John  xv.  26. 

"  Wlien  the  Comforter  is  come,  whom  I  will  send  unto  you  from  the 
Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  which  proceedeth  from  the  Father, 
he  shall  testify  of  me. " 

Some  writers,  especially  wlien  they  are  writing  hymns, 

have  fallen  now-a-days  into  a  habit  of  writing  of  the  Holy 

Spirit  of  God,  in  a  tone  of  which  I  dare  not  say  that  it  is 

wrong  or  untrue  ;  but  of  which  I  must  say,  that  it  is 

one-sided.      And  if  there  are  two  sides  to  a  matter,  it 

must  do  us  harm  to  look  at  only  one  of  them.      And   I 

think  that  it  does  people  harm  to  hear  the  Holy  Spirit 

of  God,  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter,  spoken  of  in  terms, 

not  of  reverence,  but  of  endearment.      For  consider;  He 

is  the 

"  Creator-Spirit,  by  whose  aid 
The  world's  foundations  first  were  laid," 

the  life-giving  Spirit  of  whom  it  is  written.  Thou  send- 
est  forth  Thy  Spirit,  and  things  live,  and  Thou  renew- 
est  the  face  of  the  earth. 

But  He  is  the  destroying  Spirit  too;  who  can, 
when  He  will,  produce  not  merely  life,  but  death ;  who 
can,  and  does  send  earthquakes,  storm,  and  pestilence ; 


The  Comforte7\  125 

of  whom  Isaiah  writes — ''  All  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all 
the  goodliness  thereof  is  as  the  flower  of  the  field.  The 
grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth  ;  because  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  bloweth  upon  it."  I  think  it  does  people 
harm  to  hear  this  awful  and  almighty  being,  I  say, 
spoken  of  merely  as  the  "  sweet  Spirit,"  and  "  gentle 
dove " — words  which  are  true,  but  only  true,  if  we 
remember  other  truths,  equally  true  of  Him,  concerning 
whom  they  are  spoken.  The  Spirit  of  God,  it  seems  to 
me,  is  too  majestic  a  being  to  be  talked  of  hastily  as 
*'  sweet."  Words  may  be  true,  and  yet  it  may  not  be 
always  quite  reverent  to  use  them.  An  earthly  sovereign 
may  be  full  of  all  human  sweetness  and  tenderness,  yet 
we  should  not  dare  to  address  him  as  "  sweet." 

But,  indeed,  some  of  this  talk  about  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  not  warranted  by  Scripture  at  all.  In  one  of  the 
hymns,  for  instance,  in  our  hymn-book — an  excellent 
hymn  in  other  respects,  there  is  a  line  which  speaks  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  possessing  "The  brooding  of  the 
gentle  dove." 

Now,  this  line  is  really  little  but  pretty  sentiment, 
made  up  of  false  uses  of  Scripture.  The  Scripture  speaks 
once  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  brooding  like  a  bird  over 
its  nest.  But  where  ?  In  one  of  the  most  mysterious, 
awful,  and  important  of  all  texts.  '*  And  the  earth  was 
without  form  and  void.  And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved 
(brooded)  over  the  face  of  the  deep."  What  has  this — 
the  magnificent  picture  of  the  Life-giving  Spirit  brooding 
over  the  dead  world,  to  bring  it  into  life  again,  and 
create  from  it  sea  and  land,  heat  and  fire,  and  cattle 
and  creeping  things  after  their  kind,  and  at  last  man 


126  The  Comforter, 

himself,  the  flower  and  crown  of  things  ; — what  has  that 
to  do  with  the  brooding  of  a  gentle  dove  ? 

But  the  Holy  Spirit  is  spoken  of  in  Scripture  under 
the  likeness  of  a  dove  ?  True,  and  here  is  another  con- 
fusion. The  Dove  is  not  the  emblem  of  gentleness  in 
the  Bible  :  but  the  Lamb.  The  dove  is  the  emblem  of 
something  else,  pure  and  holy,  but  not  of  gentleness  ; 
and  therefore  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not  spoken  of  in 
Scripture  as  brooding  as  a  gentle  dove ;  but  very  differ- 
ently, as  it  seems  to  me.  St  Matthew  and  St  John  say, 
that  at  our  Lord's  baptism  the  Holy  Spirit  was  seen,  not 
brooding,  but  descending  from  heaven  as  a  dove.  To 
any  one  who  knows  anything  of  doves,  who  will  merely 
go  out  into  the  field  or  the  farm-yard  and  look  at  them, 
and  who  will  use  his  own  eyes,  that  figure  is  striking 
enough,  and  grand  enough.  It  is  the  swiftness  of  the 
dove,  and  not  its  fancied  gentleness  that  is  spoken  of 
The  dove  appearing,  as  you  may  see  it  again  and 
again,  like  a  speck  in  the  far  off  sky,  rushing  down  with 
a  swiftness  which  outstrips  the  very  eagle  ;  returning 
surely  to  the  very  spot  from  which  it  set  forth,  though 
it  may  have  flown  over  hundreds  of  miles  of  land,  and 
through  the  very  clouds  of  heaven.  It  is  the  sky-cleav- 
ing force  and  swiftness,  the  unerring  instinct  of  the  dove, 
and  not  a  sentimental  gentleness  to  which  Scripture 
likens  that  Holy  Spirit,  which  like  the  rushing 
mighty  wind  bloweth  whither  it  listeth,  and  thou 
hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it 
cometh,  or  whither  it  goeth ; — that  Holy  Spirit  who, 
when  He  fell  on  the  apostles,  fell  in  tongues  of  fire,  and 
shook  all  the  house  where  they  were  sitting ;  that  Holy 


The  Comforter.  127 

Spirit  of  whom  one  of  the  wisest  Christians  who  ever 
lived,  who  knew  well  enough  the  work  of  the  Spirit, 
arguing  just  as  I  am  now  against  the  fancy  of 
associating  the  Holy  Spirit  merely  with  pretty  thoughts 
of  our  own,  and  pleasant  feelings  of  our  own,  and  senti- 
mental raptures  of  our  own,  said,  "  Wouldst  thou  know 
the  manner  of  spiritual  converse  ?  Of  the  way  in  which 
the  Spirit  of  God  works  in  man  ?  Then  it  is  this  :  He 
hath  taken  me  up  and  dashed  me  down.  Like  a  lion,  I 
look,  that  He  will  break  all  my  bones.  From  morning 
till  evening,  Thou  wilt  make  an  end  of  me." 

But  people  are  apt  to  forget  this.  And  therefore 
tbey  fall  into  two  mistakes.  They  think  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  only  a  gentle,  and  what  they  call  a  dove-like 
being  ;  and  they  forget  what  a  powerful,  aw^ful,  literally 
formidable  being  He  is.  They  lose  respect  for  the  Holy 
Spirit.  They  trifle  with  Him  ;  and  while  they  sing 
hymns  about  His  gentleness  and  sweetness,  they  do 
things  which  grieve  and  shock  Him  ;  forgetting  the 
awful  w^arning  which/  He,  at  the  very  outset  of 
the  Christian  Church,  gave  against  such  taking  of 
liberties  with  God  the  Holy  Ghost  : — how  Ananias 
and  Sapphira  thought  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  One 
whom  they  might  honour  with  their  lips,  and  more, 
with  their  outward  actions,  but  who  did  not  require  truth 
in  the  inward  parts,  and  did  not  care  for  their  telling 
a  slight  falsehood  that  they  might  appear  more  generous 
than  they  really  were  in  the  eyes  of  men ;  and  how  the 
answer  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  was  that  He  struck 
them  both  dead  there  and  then  for  a  warning  to  all 
such  triflers,  till  the  end  of  time.     . 


128  The  Comforter. 

Another  mistake  which  really  pious  and  good  people 
commit,  is,  that  they  think  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
to  be  merely,  or  little  beside,  certain  pleasant  frames, 
and  feelingfs,  and  comfortable  assurances,  in  their  own 
minds.  They  do  not  know  that  these  pleasant  frames 
and  feelings  really  depend  principally  on  their  own 
health :  and,  then,  when  they  get  out  of  health, 
or  when  their  brain  is  overworked,  and  the  pleasant 
feelings  go,  they  are  terrified  and  disheartened,  and 
complain  of  spiritual  dryness,  and  cry  out  that  God's 
Spirit  has  deserted  them,  and  are  afraid  that  God  is 
angry  with  them,  or  even  that  they  have  committed  the 
unpardonable  sin  :  not  knowing  that  God  is  not  a  man 
that  He  should  lie,  nor  a  son  of  man  that  He  should 
repent ;  that  God  is  as  near  them  in  the  dark- 
ness as  in  the  light ;  that  whatever  their  own  health, 
or  their  own  feelings  may  be,  yet  still  in  God  they 
live,  and  move,  and  have  their  being ;  that  to  God's 
Spirit  they  owe  all  which  raises  them  above  the  dumb 
animals ;  that  nothing  can  sej^arate  them  from  the 
love  of  Him  who  promised  that  He  would  not  leave  us 
comfortless,  but  send  to  us  His  Holy  Ghost  to  comfort 
us,  and  exalt  us  to  the  same  place  whither  He  has  gone 
before. 

Now,  why  do  I  say  all  this  ?  To  take  away  comfort 
from  you  ?  To  make  you  fear  and  dread  the  Spirit  of 
God  ?  God  forbid  1  Who  am  I,  to  take  away  comfort 
from  any  human  being  !  I  say  it  to  give  you  true  com- 
fort, to  make  3^ou  trust  and  love  tlie  Hol}^  Spirit  utterly, 
to  know  Him — His  strength  and  His  wisdom  as  well  as 
His  tenderness  and  gentleness. 


The  Conjfo7^ter,  129 

You  know  that  afflictions  do  come — terrible  bereave- 
ments, sorrows  sad  and  strange.  My  sermon  does  not 
make  them  come.  There  they  are,  God  help  us  all,  and 
too  many  of  them,  in  this  world.  But  from  whom  do 
they  come  ?  WJio  is  Lord  of  life  and  death  ?  Who  is 
Lord  of  joy  and  sorrow  ?  Is  not  that  the  question  of  all 
questions  ?  And  is  not  the  answer  the  most  essential  of 
all  answers  ?  It  is  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God ;  the  Spirit 
who  proceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  ;  the  Spirit 
of  the  Father  w^ho  so  loved  the  world  that  He  spared  not 
His  only  begotten  Son  ;  the  Spirit  of  the  Son  who  so 
loved  the  world,  that  He  stooped  to  die  for  it  upon  the 
Cross  ;  the  Spirit  who  is  promised  to  lead  you  into  all 
truth,  that  you  may  know  God,  and  in  the  knowledge  of 
Him  find  everlasting  life;  the  Spirit  who  is  the  Comforter, 
and  says,  I  have  seen  thy  ways  and  will  heal  thee,  I  will 
lead  thee  also,  and  restore  comforts  to  thee  and  to  thy 
mourners.  I  speak  peace  to  him  that  is  near,  and  to 
him  that  is  far  off,  saith  the  Lord  ;  and  I  will  heal  him. 
Is  it  not  the  most  blessed  news,  that  He  who  takes 
away,  is  the  very  same  as  He  who  gives  ?  That  He  who 
afflicts  is  the  very  same  as  He  who  comforts  ?  That  He 
of  whom  it  is  written  that,  ''  as  a  lion,  so  will  He  break 
all  my  bones ;  from  day  even  to  night  wilt  Thon  make 
an  end  of  me;"  is  the  same  as  He  of  whom  it  is 
written,  ''  He  shall  gather  the  lambs  in  His  arms,  and 
carry  them,  and  shall  gently  lead  those  that  are  with 
young ; "  and,  again,  ''  As  a  beast  goeth  down  into  the 
valley,  so  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  caused  him  to  rest  V 
That  He  of  whom  it  is  written,  "  Our  God  is  a  consum- 
ing fire."  is  the  same  as  He  who  has  said,  "  When  thou 

I 


130  The  Comforter, 

walkest  throngh  the  fire,  thou  shalt  not  be  burned  ? " 
That  He  who  brings  us  into  *'  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death,"  is  the  same  as  He  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  Thy 
rod  and  Thy  staff  they  comfort  me  ?"  Is  not  that  blessed 
news  ?  Is  it  not  the  news  of  the  Gospel ;  and  the  only 
good  news  which  people  will  really  care  for,  when  they 
are  tormented,  not  with  superstitious  fears  and  doctrines 
of  devils  which  man's  diseased  conscience  has  originated, 
but  tormented  with  the  real  sorrows,  the  rational  fears  of 
this  stormy  human  life. 

-  We  all  like  comfort.  But  what  kind  of  comfort  do 
we  not  merely  like  but  need  ?  Merely  to  be  comfort- 
able ? — To  be  free  from  pain,  anxiety,  sorrow  ? — To 
have  only  pleasant  faces  round  us,  and  pleasant  things 
said  to  us  ?  If  we  want  that  comfort,  we  shall  very 
seldom  have  it.  It  will  be  very  seldom  good  for  us  to 
have  it.  The  comfort  which  poor  human  beings  want 
in  such  a  world  as  this,  is  not  the  comfort  of  ease,  but 
the  comfort  of  strength.  ^^  The  comforter  whom  we  need 
is  not  one  who  will  merely  say  kind  things,  but  give 
help — help  to  the  weary  and  heavy  laden  heart  which  has 
no  time  to  rest.  We  need  not  the  sunny  and  smiling 
face,  but  the  strong  and  helping  arm.  For  we  may  be  in 
that  state  that  smiles  are  shocking  to  us,  and  mere  kind- 
ness,— though  we  may  be  grateful  for  it — of  no  more 
comfort  to  us  than  sweet  music  to  a  drowning  man. 
We  may  be  miserable,  and  unable  to  help  being  miser- 
able, and  unwilling  to  help  it  too.  We  do  not  wish  to 
flee  from  our  sorrow,  we  do  not  wish  to  forget  our  sorrow. 
We  dare  not ;  it  is  so  awful,  so  heartrending,  so  plain 
spoken,   that  God,  the  master  and  tutor  of  our  hearts. 


The  Comforter,  131 

must  wish  us  to  face  it  and  endure  it.  Our  Father  has 
given  us  the  cup — shall  we  not  drink  it  ?  But  who  will 
help  us  to  drink  the  bitter  cup  ?  Who  will  be  the  com- 
forter, and  give  us  not  mere  kind  words,  but  strength  ? 
Who  will  give  us  the  faith  to  say  with  Job,  "  Though 
He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him  ? "  Who  will  give  us 
the  firm  reason  to  look  steadily  at  our  grief,  and  learn 
the  lesson  it  was  meant  to  teach  ?  Who  will  give  us 
the  temperate  will,  to  keep  sober  and  calm  amid  the 
shocks  and  changes  of  mortal  life  ?  Above  all,  I  may 
say — Who  will  lead  us  into  all  truth  ?  How  much  is 
our  sorrow  increased — how  much  of  it  is  caused  by 
simple  ignorance  !  Why  has  our  anxiety  come  ?  How 
are  we  to  look  at  it  ?  What  are  we  to  do  ?  Oh,  that 
we  had  a  comforter  who  would  lead  us  into  all  truth  : — 
not  make  us  infallible,  or  all  knowing,  but  lead  us  into 
truth  ;  at  least  put  us  in  the  way  of  truth,  put  things  in 
their  true  light  to  us,  and  give  us  sound  and  rational 
views  of  life  and  duty.  Oh,  for  a  comforter  who  would 
give  us  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  the  spirit 
of  counsel  and  ghostly  strength,  the  spirit  of  knowledge 
and  true  godliness,  and  fill  us  with  that  spirit  of  God's 
holy  fear,  which  would  make  us  not  superstitious,  not 
slavish,  not  anxious,  but  simply  obedient,  loyal  and  re- 
signed. 

If  we  had  such  a  Comforter  as  that,  could  we  not  take 
evil  from  his  hands,  as  well  as  good  ?  We  have  had 
fathers  of  our  flesh  who  corrected  us,  and  we  gave  them 
reverence.  They  chastised  us,  but  we  loved  and  trusted 
them,  because  we  knew  that  they  loved  and  trusted  us— 
chastised  us  to  make  us  better — chastised  us  because 


132  The  Comforter. 

they  trusted  us  to  become  better.  But  if  we  can  find 
a  Father  of  our  spirits,  of  our  souls,  shall  we  not  rather 
be  in  subjection  to  Him  and  live  ?  If  He  sent  us  a 
Comforter,  to  comfort  and  guide,  and  inspire,  and 
strengthen  us,  shall  we  not  say  of  that  Comforter-  — 
"  Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him." 

If  we  had  such  a  Comforter  as  that,  we  should  not 
care,  if  He  seemed  at  times  stern,  as  well  as  kind ;  we 
could  endure  rebuke  and  chastisement  from  Him,  if  we 
could  only  get  from  Him  wisdom  to  understand  the  re- 
buke, and  courage  to  bear  the  chastisement.  Where  is 
that  Comforter  ?  God  answers  : — That  Comforter  am  I, 
the  God  of  heaven  and  earth.  There  are  comforters  on 
earth  who  can  help  thee  with  wise  words  and  noble  coun- 
sel, can  be  strong  as  man,  and  tender  as  woman.  Then 
God  can  be  more  strong  than  man,  and  more  tender  than 
woman  likewise.  And  when  the  strong  arm  of  man  sup- 
ports thee  no  longer,  yet  under  thee  are  the  everlasting 
arms  of  God. 

Oh,  blessed  news,  that  God  Himself  is  the  Com- 
forter. Blessed  news,  that  He  who  strikes  will  also 
heal :  that  He  who  gives  the  cup  of  sorrow,  will  also 
give  the  strength  to  drink  it.  Blessed  news,  that  chas- 
tisement is  not  punishment,  but  the  education  of  a 
Father.  Blessed  news,  that  our  whole  duty  is  the  duty 
of  a  child — of  the  Son  who  said  in  His  own  agony, 
"Father,  not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done."  /  Blessed  news, 
that  our  Comforter  is  the  Spirit  who  comforted  Christ 
the  Son  Himself;  who  proceeds  both  from  the  Father  and 
from  the  Son ;  and  who  will  therefore  testify  to  us  both  of 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  and  tell  us  that  in  Christ  we  are 


The  Comforter.  133 

indeed,  really  and  literally,  the  children  of  God  who  may 
cry  to  Him,  "Father,"  with  full  understanding  of  all  that 
that  royal  word  contains.  Blessed,  too,  to  find  that  in  the 
power  of  the  Divine  Majesty,  we  can  acknowledge  the 
unity,  and  know  and  feel  that  the  Father,  Son  and  Holy 
Ghost  are  all  one  in  love  to  the  creatures  whom  they 
have  made — their  glory  equal,  for  the  glory  of  each  and 
all  is  perfect  charity,  and  their  majesty  co-eternal,  be- 
cause it  is  a  perfect  majesty ;  whose  justice  is  mercy, 
whose  power  is  goodness,  its  very  sternness  love,  love 
which  gives  hope  and  counsel,  and  help  and  strength,  and 
the  true  life  which  this  world's  death  cannot  destroy. 


SEUMON   XV. 

THOU    ART    WORTHY. 
Eversley,  1869.     Chester  Cathedral,  1870.     Trinity  Sunday, 

Eevelatton  iv.  11. 
"Thou  art  worthy,  0  Lord,  to  receive  glory  and  honour  and  power : 
for  Thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  Thy  pleasure  they  are 
and  were  created. " 

I  AM  going  to  speak  to  you  on  a  deep  matter,  the 
deepest  and  most  important  of  all  matters,  and  yet 
1  hope  to  speak  simply.  I  shall  say  nothing  which  you 
cannot  understand,  if  you  will  attend.  I  shall  say 
nothing,  indeed,  which  you  could  not  find  out  for  your- 
selves, if  you  will  think,  and  use  your  own  common 
sense.  I  wish  to  speak  to  you  of  Theology — of  God 
Himself  For  this  Trinity  Sunday  of  all  the  Sundays 
of  the  year,  is  set  apart  for  thinking  of  God  Himself — 
not  merely  of  our  own  souls,  though  we  must  never 
forget  them,  nor  of  what  God  has  done  for  our  souls, 
though  we  must  never  forget  that — but  of  what  God  is 
Himself,  what  He  would  be  if  we  had  no  souls — if  there 
w^ere,  and  had  been  from  the  beginning,  no  human 
beings  at  all  upon  the  earth. 

Now,  if  w^e  look  at  any  living  thing — an  animal,  say, 
or  a  flower,  and  consider  how  curiously  it  is  contrived. 


Thou  art  Worthy.  135 

onr  common  sense  will  tell  us  at  once  that  some  one  has 
made  it ;  and  if  any  one  answers — Oh  !  the  flower  was 
not  made,  it  grew — our  common  sense  would  tell  us  that 
that  was  only  a  still  more  wonderful  contrivance,  and 
that  there  must  be  som^  one  who  gave  it  the  power  of 
growing,  and  who  makes  it  grow.  And  so  our  common 
sense  would  tell  us,  as  it  told  the  heathens  of  old,  that 
there  must  be  gods — beings  whom  we  cannot  see,  who 
made  the  world.  But  if  we  watch  things  more  closely, 
we  should  find  out  that  all  things  are  made  more  or  less 
upon  the  same  plan ;  that  (and  I  tell  you  that  this  is  true, 
strange  as  it  may  seem)  all  animals,  however  different 
they  may  seem  to  our  eyes,  are  made  upon  the  same 
plan  ;  all  plants  and  flowers,  however  different  they  may 
seem,  axe  made  upon  the  same  plan  ;  all  stones,  and 
minerals,  and  earths,  however  different  they  may  seem, 
are  made  upon  the  same  plan.  Then  common  sense 
would  surely  tell  us,  one  God  made  all  the  animals,  one 
God  made  all  the  plants,  one  God  made  all  the  earths  and 
stones.  But  if  we  watch  more  closely  still,  we  should  find 
that  the  plants  could  not  live  without  the  animals,  nor 
the  animals  without  the  plants,  nor  either  of  them 
without  the  soil  beneath  our  feet,  and  the  air  and  rain 
above  our  heads.  That  everything  in  the  world  worked 
together  on  one  plan,  and  each  thing  depended  on 
everything  else.  Then  common  sense  would  tell  us, 
one  God  must  have  made  the  whole  world.  But  if  we 
watched  more  closely  again,  or  rather,  if  we  asked  the 
astronomers,  who  study  the  stars  and  heavens,  they 
would  tell  us  that  all  the  worlds  over  our  heads,  all  the 
stars  that  spaugle  the  sky  at  night,  were  made  upon 


136  Thou  art  Worthy. 

the  same  plan  as  our  earth — that  sun  and  moon,  and 
all  the  host  of  heaven,  move  according  to  the  same  laws 
by  which  our  earth  moves,  and  as  far  as  we  can  find 
out,  have  been  made  in  the  same  way  as  our  earth  has 
been  made,  and  that  these  same  laws  must  have  been 
going  on,  making  worlds  after  worlds,  for  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  years,  and  ages  beyond  counting,  and  will, 
in  all  probability,  go  on  for  countless  ages  more.  Then 
common  sense  will  tell  us,  the  same  God  has  made  all 
worlds,  past,  present,  and  to  come.  There  is  but  one 
God,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 

So  we  should  learn  something  of  how  all  things  were 
made;  and  then  would  come  a  second  question,  why  all 
things  were  made  ?     Why  did  God  make  the  worlds  ? 

Let  us  begin  with  a  very  simple  example.  Simple 
things  will  often  teach  us  most.  You  see  a  flower 
growing,  not  in  a  garden,  but  wild  in  a  field  or  wood. 
You  admire  its  beautiful  colours,  or  if  it  is  fragrant, 
its  sweet  scent.  Now,  why  was  that  flower  put  there  ? 
You  may  answer,  "  to  please  me."  My  dear  friends, 
I  should  be  the  last  person  to  deny  that.  I  can 
never  see  a  child  picking  a  nosegay,  much  less  a 
little  London  child,  born  and  bred  and  shut  up  among 
bricks  and  mortar,  when  it  gets  for  the  first  time 
into  a  green  field,  and  throws  itself  instinctively  upon 
the  buttercups  and  daisies,  as  if  they  were  precious 
jewels  and  gold  ; — I  never  can  see  that  sight,  I  say, 
without  feeling  that  there  are  such  things  as  final  causes 
— I  mean  that  the  great  Father  in  heaven  put  those 
flowers  into  that  field  on  purpose  to  give  pleasure  to 
His  human  children.       But    then  comes   the  question. 


ThoiL  art  Worthy,  137 

Of  all  the  flowers  in  a  single  field,  is  one  in  ten  thousand 
ever  looked  at  by  child  or  by  men  ?  And  yet  they  are 
just  as  beautiful  as  the  rest ;  and  God  has,  so  to  speak, 
taken  just  as  much  pains  with  the  many  beautiful  things 
which  men  will  never  see,  as  with  the  few,  very  few, 
which  men  may  see.  And  when  one  thinks  further 
about  this — when  one  thinks  of  the  vast  forests  in  other 
lands  which  the  foot  of  man  has  seldom  or  never  trod, 
and  which,  when  they  are  entered,  are  found  to  be  full 
of  trees,  flowers,  birds,  butterflies,  so  beautiful  and 
glorious,  that  anything  which  we  see  in  these  islands 
is  poor  and  plain  in  comparison  with  them  ;  and  when 
we  remember  that  these  beautiful  creatures  have  been 
going  on  generation  after  generation,  age  after  age, 
unseen  and  unenjoyed  by  any  human  eyes,  one  must 
ask,  Why  has  God  been  creating  all  that  beauty  ?  simply 
to  let  it  all,  as  it  were,  run  to  waste,  till  after  thousands 
of  years  one  traveller  comes,  and  has  a  hasty  glimpse  of 
it  ?  Impossible.  Or  again — and  this  is  an  example 
still  more  strange,  and  yet  it  is  true.  We  used  to  think 
till  within  a  very  few  years  past,  that  at  the  bottom  of 
the  deep  sea  there  were  no  living  things — that  miles 
below  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  in  total  darkness,  and 
under  such  a  weight  of  water  as  would  crush  us  to  a 
jelly,  there  could  be  nothing,  except  stones,  and  sand, 
and  mud.  But  now  it  is  found  out  that  the  bottom  of 
the  deepest  seas,  and  the  utter  darkness  into  which  no 
ray  of  light  can  ever  pierce,  are  alive  and  swarming  with 
millions  of  creatures  as  cunningly  and  exquisitely  formed, 
and  in  many  cases  as  brilliantly  coloured,  as  those 
which  live  in  the  sunlight  along  the  shallow  shores. 


13B  Thou  art  Worthy. 

Now,  my  dear  friends, — surely  beautiful  things  were 
made  to  be  seen  by  some  one,  else  wky  were  they  made 
beautiful  ?  Common  sense  tells  us  that.  But  who  has 
seen  those  countless  tribes,  which  have  been  living  down, 
in  utter  darkness,  since  the  making  of  the  world  ? 
Common  sense,  I  think,  can  give  but  one  answer — God. 
He,  and  He  only,  to  whom  the  night  is  as  clear  as  the 
day,  to  whom  the  darkness  and  the  light  are  both  alike. 
But  more — God  has  not  only  made  things  beautiful ; 
He  has  made  things  happy;  whatever  misery  there  may 
be  in  the  world,  there  is  no  denying  that.  However 
sorrow  may  have  come  into  the  world,  there  is  a  great 
deal  more  happiness  than  misery  in  it.  Misery  is  the 
exception  ;  happiness  is  the  rule.  No  rational  man  ever 
heard  a  bird  sing,  without  feeling  that  that  bird  was 
happy  ;  and,  if  so,  his  common  sense  ought  to  tell  him 
that  if  God  made  that  bird.  He  made  it  to  be  happy; 
He  intended  it  to  be  happy,  and  He  takes  pleasure  in  its 
happiness,  though  no  human  ear  should  ever  hear  its 
song,  no  human  heart  should  ever  share  in  its  joy. 
Yes,  the  world  was  not  made  for  man  ;  but  man,  like 
all  the  world,  was  made  for  God.  Not  for  man's  plea- 
sure merely,  not  for  man's  use,  but  for  God's  pleasure  all 
things  are,  and  for  God's  pleasure  they  were  created. 

And  now,  surely,  common  sense  will  tell  us  why  God 
made  all  things.  For  His  own  pleasure.  God  is  pleased 
to  make  them,  and  pleased  with  what  He  has  made, 
because  what  He  has  made  is  worth  being  pleased  with. 
He  has  seen  all  things  that  He  has  made,  and,  behold, 
they  are  very  good,  and  right,  and  wise,  and  beautiful, 
and    happy,    each    after    its    kind.       So    that,    as    the 


Thotc  art  Worthy,  139 

Psalmist  says,  "  The  Lord  shall  rejoice  in  His  works." 
And  Scripture  tells  that  it  must  be  so,  if  we  only  re- 
collect and  believe  one  word  of  St.  John's  that  "  God  is 
Love  " — for  it  is  the  very  essence  of  love,  that  it  cannot 
be  content  to  love  itself  It  must  have  something: 
which  is  not  itself  to  love  that  it  may  go  out  of  itself, 
and  forget  itself,  and  spend  itself  in  the  good  and  in  the 
happiness  of  what  it  loves.  All  true  love  of  husband 
and  wife,  mother  and  child,  sister  and  brother,  friend 
and  friend,  man  to  his  country, — what  does  it  mean  but 
this  ?  Forgetting  one's  selfish  happiness  in  doing  good 
to  others,  and  finding  a  deeper,  higher  happiness  in  that. 
The  man  who  only  loves  himself  knows  not  what  Love 
means.  In  truth,  he  does  not  even  love  himself  He 
is  his  own  worst  enemy  :  his  selfishness  torments  him 
with  discontent,  disgust,  pride,  fear,  and  all  evil  passions 
and  lusts  ;  and  in  him  is  fulfilled  our  Lord's  saying,  that 
he  that  will  save  his  life  shall  lose  it.  But  the  man 
who  is  full  of  love,  as  God  is  full  of  love,  who  forgets  him- 
self in  making  others  happy,  who  lives  the  eternal  life 
of  God,  which  is  alone  worth  living,  he  is  the  only  truly 
happy  man  ;  and  in  him  is  fulfilled  that  other  saying  of 
our  Lord,  that  he  who  loseth  his  life  shall  save  it. 

And  the  loving,  unselfish  man  too  is  the  only  sound 
theologian,  for  he  who  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God, 
and  God  in  him.  He  alone  will  understand  the  mystery 
of  who  God  is,  and  why  He  made  all  things.  The 
loving  man  alone,  I  say,  will  understand  the  mystery — 
how  because  God  is  love  He  could  not  live  alone  in 
the  abyss,  but  must  create  all  things,  all  worlds  and 
heavens,    yea,    and    the    heaven  of    heavens,  that  He 


140  Thou  art  Worthy. 

might  have  something  beside  Himself,  whereon  to  spend 
His  boundless  love.  And  why  ?  Because  love  can  only 
love  what  is  somewhat  like  itself,  He  made  all  things 
according  to  the  idea  of  His  own  eternal  mind.  Because 
He  is  unchangeable,  and  a  God  of  order  and  of  law,  He 
made  all  things  according  to  one  order,  and  gave  them  a 
law  which  cannot  be  broken,  that  they  might  continue 
this  day  as  they  were  at  the  beginning,  serving  Him  and 
fulfilling  His  word.  Because  He  is  a  God  of  justice,  He 
made  all  things  just,  depending  on  each  other,  helping 
each  other,  and  compelled  to  sacrifice  themselves  for 
each  other,  and  minister  to  each  other  whether  they  will 
or  not.  Because  He  is  a  God  of  beauty.  He  made  all 
things  beautiful,  of  a  variety  and  a  richness  unspeakable, 
that  He  might  rejoice  in  all  His  works,  and  find  a 
divine  delight  in  every  moss  which  grows  upon  the 
moor,  and  every  gnat  which  dances  in  the  sun.  Be- 
cause He  is  a  God  of  love,  He  gave  to  every  creature  a 
power  of  happiness  according  to  its  kind,  that  He  might 
rejoice  in  the  happiness  of  His  creatures.  And  lastly, 
because  God  is  a  spirit — a  moral  and  a  rational  Being 
— therefore  He  created  rational  beings  to  be  more  like 
Him  than  any  other  creatures,  and  constituted  the 
services  of  men  and  angels  in  a  most  wonderful  order, 
that  they  might  reverence  law  as  He  does,  and  justice  as 
He  does —  that  they  might  love  to  be  loving  as  He  loves, 
and  to  be  useful  as  He  is  useful — that  they  might 
rejoice  in  the  beauty  of  His  works  as  He  rejoices  in 
them  Himself ;  and,  catching  from  time  to  time  fuller 
and  fuller  glimpses  of  that  Divine  and  wonderful  order 
according  to  which  He  has  made  all  things  and  all  worlds, 


Thou  art  Wo7^thy.  141 

may  see  more  and  more  clearly, as  the  years  roll  on,  that  all 
things  are  just,  and  beautiful,  and  good  ;  and  join  more 
and  more  heartily  in  the  hymn  which  goes  up  for  ever 
from  every  sun,  and  star,  and  world,  and  from  the  tiniest 
creature  in  these  worlds  :  "  Thou  art  worthy,  0  Lord, 
to  receive  glory  and  honour  and  power;  for  Thou  hast 
created  all  things,  and  for  Thy  pleasure  they  are  and 
were  created." 

Now,  to  God  the  Father,  who,  out  of  His  boundless 
love,  ordains  the  making  of  all  things  ;  and  to  God  the 
Son,  who,  out  of  His  boundless  love,  performs  the  making 
of  all  things  ;  and  to  God  the  Holy  Spirit,  who,  out  of 
His  boundless  love,  breathes  law  and  kind,  life  and 
growth  into  all  things,  three  Persons  in  one,  ever- 
blessed  Trinity,  be  all  glory,  and  honour,  and  praise,  for 
ever  and  ever.      Amen. 


SERMON   XYI 

THE  GLORY  OF  THE  TRINITY. 
Eversley,  1868.     St  Mary's  Chester,  1871.     Trinity  Sunday^ 

Psalm  civ.  31,  33. 

**  The  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  endure  for  ever  :  The  Lord  shall  rejoice 
in  his  works.  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord  as  long  as  I  live  :  I  will 
sing  praise  to  my  God  while  I  have  my  being. " 

This  is  Trinity  Sunday,  on  which  we  think  especially 
of  the  name  of  God.  A  day  which,  to  a  wise  man,  may 
well  be  one  of  the  most  solemn,  and  the  most  humiliat- 
ing days  of  the  whole  year.  For  is  it  not  humiliating 
to  look  stedfastly,  even  for  a  moment,  at  God's  great- 
ness, and  then  at  our  own  littleness ;  at  God's  strength 
and  at  our  own  weakness  ;  at  God's  wisdom,  and  at  our 
own  ignorance  ;  and,  most  of  all,  at  God's  righteousness, 
and  at  our  own  sins  ? 

I  do  not  say  that  it  should  not  be  so.  Rather,  I  say, 
it  should  be  so.  For  what  is  more  wholesome  for  you 
and  me,  and  any  man,  than  to  be  humiliated  — 
humbled — and  brought  to  our  own  level — that  all  may 
see  who,  what,  and  where  we  are  ?  What  more  whole- 
some than  to  be  made  holy  and  humble  men  of  heart  ? 
What  more  wholesome  for  us,  who  are  each  of  us 
tempted  to  behave  as  if  we  were  the  centre  of  the  uni- 
verse, to  judge  ourselves  the  most  important  personages 


The  Glory  of  the  Trinity,  143 

in  the  world,  and  to  judge  of  everything  according  as  it 
is  pleasant  or  unpleasant  to  us,  each  in  our  own  family, 
our  own  sect,  our  own  neighbourhood ;  what  more  whole- 
some than  to  be  brought  now  and  then  face  to  face  with  God 
Himself,  and  see  what  poor,  little,  contemptible  atoms 
we  are  at  best,  compared  with  Him  who  made  heaven 
and  earth  % — to  see  how  well  God  and  God's  world  have 
gone  on  for  thousands  of  years  without  our  help ; — how 
well  they  will  go  on  after  we  are  dead  and  gone  ? 

Face  to  face  with  God  !  And  how  far  shall  we  have 
to  go  to  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  God  ?  Not  very 
far,  according  to  St  Paul.  God,  he  says,  is  "  not  far  from 
every  one  of  us  ;  for  in  Him  we  live,  and  move,  and 
have  our  being." 

In  God,  in  the  ever  blessed  Trinity — Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost — we,  and  not  we  only,  but  every  living 
thing  —  each  flower,  each  insect  —  lives,  and  moves, 
and  has  its  being.  So  it  is — strange  as  it  may  seem, 
and  we  cannot  make  it  otherwise.  You  fancy  God  far 
off — somewhere  in  the  skies,  beyond  suns  and  stars. 
Know  that  the  heavens,  and  the  heaven  of  heavens,  can- 
not contain  Him.  Rather,  in  the  very  deepest  sense.  He 
contains  them.  In  God^  suns  and  stars,  and  all  the 
host  of  heaven,  live,  and  move,  and  have  their  being  ; 
and  if  God  destroyed  them  all  at  this  very  moment,  and 
the  whole  universe  became  nothing  once  more,  as  it  was 
nothing  at  first,  still  God  would  remain,  neither  greater  nor 
less,  neither  stronger  nor  weaker,  neither  richer  nor  poorer, 
than  He  was  before.  For  He  is  the  self-existent  I  Am  ; 
who  needs  nought  save  Himself,  and  who  needs  nought 
save  to  assert  Himself  in  His  Word,  Jesus  Christ  our 


144  T^^^  Glory  of  the  Trinity. 

Lord,  and  say  ''  I  Am,"  in  order  to  create  all  things  and 
beings,  save  Himself.  He  is  the  infinite  ;  whom  nothing, 
however  huge,  and  vast,  or  strong,  can  comprehend — that 
is,  take  in  and  limit.  He  takes  in  and  limits  all  things ; 
giving  to  each  thing,  form  according  to  its  own  kind,  and 
life  and  growth  according  to  its  own  law  ;  appointing  to 
all  (as  says  St  Paul)  their  times,  and  the  bounds  of  their 
habitation ;  that  if  they  be  rational  creatures,  as  we  are, 
they  may  feel  after  the  Lord  and  find  Him ;  and  if  they 
be  irrational  creatures,  like  the  animals  and  the  plants, 
mountains  and  streams,  clouds  and  tempests,  sun  and 
stars,  they  may  serve  God's  gracious  purposes  in  the 
economy  of  His  world. 

Therefore,  everything  which  you  see,  is,  as  it  were,  a 
thought  of  God's,  an  action  of  God's ;  a  message  to  you 
from  God.  Therefore  you  can  look  at  nothing  in  the 
earth  without  seeing  God  Himself  at  work  thereon.  As 
our  Lord  said,  '"  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I 
work."  You  can  look  neither  at  the  sun  in  the  sky, 
nor  at  the  grass  beneath  your  feet,  without  being  brought 
face  to  face  with  God,  the  ever  blessed  Trinity.  The 
tiniest  gnat  which  dances  in  the  sun,  was  conceived  by 
God  the  Father,  in  whose  eternal  bosom  are  the  ideas 
and  patterns  of  all  things,  past,  present,  and  to  come; 
it  was  created  by  God  the  Son,  by  whom  the  Father 
made  all  things,  and  without  whom  nothing  is  made  : 
and  it  is  kept  alive  by  God  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Lord 
and  giver  of  life,  of  whom  it  is  written,  ''  Thou  sendest 
forth  thy  Spirit,  they  are  created  ;  and  thou  renewest  the 
face  of  the  earth." 

Oh  that  we  could  all  remember  this.      That  when  we 


The  Glory  of  the  Trinity.  145 

walk  across  the  field,  or  look  out  into  the  garden,  we 
could  have  the  wisdom  to  remember,  Whither,  0  God, 
can  I  go  from  Thy  presence  ?  For  Thou  art  looking  down 
on  the  opening  of  every  bud  and  flower,  and  without 
Thee  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground.  Whither  can  I 
flee  from  Thy  Spirit  ?  For  Thy  Spirit  is  giving  life  per- 
petually, alike  to  me  and  to  the  insect  at  my  feet ;  with- 
out Thy  Spirit  my  lungs  could  not  breathe  one  breath, 
my  heart  could  not  beat  one  pulse.  In  Thee,  I  and  all 
things  live,  move,  and  have  our  being.  And  shall  I  for- 
get Thee,  disobey  Thee,  neglect  to  praise,  and  honour,  and 
worship  Thee,  and  thank  Thee  day  and  night,  for  Thy 
great  glory  ? 

If  we  could  but  remember  that,  there  would  be  no 
fear  of  our  being  ungodly,  irreligious,  undevout.  We 
look  too  often,  day  after  day,  month  after  month,  on  the 
world  around  us  just  as  the  dumb  beasts  do,  as  a  place  out 
of  which  we  can  get  something  to  eat,  and  forget  that  it  is 
also  a  place  out  of  which  we  can  get,  daily  and  hourly, 
something  to  admire,  to  adore,  to  worship,  even  the  thought 
of  God's  wisdom,  God's  power,  God's  goodness,  God's  glory. 
Oh  blind  and  heedless  that  we  are.  Truly  said  the  wise 
man — "  An  undevout  astronomer  is  mad."  And  truly 
said  another  wise  man,  an  Englishman — the  saintly 
philosopher  Faraday,  now  with  God, — "  How  could  he 
be  otherwise  than  religious ;  when  at  every  step  he  found 
himself  brought  more  closely  face  to  face  with  the  signs 
of  a  mind  constructed  like  his  own,  with  an  aim  and  a 
purpose  which  he  could  understand,  employing  ways  and 
means,  and  tending  clearly  to  an  end,  and  methodi- 
cally following  out  a  system  which  he  could  both  per- 

K 


146  The  Gloiy  of  the  Trinity. 

ceive  and  grasp."  Such  a  man's  whole  life  is  one  act  of 
reverence  to  that  God  in  whose  inner  presence  he  huds 
himself  illuminated  and  strengthened  ;  and  if  there  be 
revelation  of  divine  things  on  earth,  it  is  when  the 
hidden  secrets  of  nature  are  disclosed  to  the  sincere  aud 
self-denying  seeker  after  truth. 

Yes,  that  is  true.  The  more  you  look  into  the  world 
around  you,  and  consider  every  flower,  and  bird,  and 
stone,  the  more  you  will  see  that  a  Mind  planned  them, 
even  the  mind  of  God  ;  a  Mind  like  yours  and  mine  ; 
but  how  infinitely  different,  hew  much  deeper,  wiser, 
vaster.  Before  that  thought  we  shrink  into  the 
nothingness  from  whence  He  called  us  out  at  first. 
The  difference  between  our  minds  and  the  Mind  of 
God  is — to  what  shall  I  liken  it  ?  Say,  to  the  differ- 
ence between  a  flake  of  soot  aod  a  mountain  of  pure 
diamond.  That  soot  and  that  diamond  are  actually  the 
same  substance  ;  of  that  there  is  no  doubt  whatsoever  ; 
but  as  the  light,  dirty,  almost  useless  soot  is  to  the  pure, 
and  clear,  hard  diamond,  ay,  to  a  mountain,  a  world, 
a  whole  universe  made  of  pure  diamond — if  such  a  thing 
were  possible — so  is  the  mind  of  man  compared  with 
that  Mind  of  the  ever  blessed  Trinity,  which  made  the 
worlds,  and  sustains  them  in  life  and  order  to  this  day. 

My  friends,  it  is  not  in  great  things  only,  but  in  the 
yery  spaallest,  that  the  greatest  glory  of  the  ever  blessed 
Trinity  is  seen.  Ay,  most,  perhaps,  in  the  smallest, 
when  one  considers  the  utterly  inconceivable  wisdom, 
which  can  make  the  smallest  animal — so  made  as  to 
be  almost  invisible  under  the  strongest  microscope — as 
perfect  in  all  its  organs  as  the  hugest  elephant.      Ay, 


The  Glory  of  the  Trinity,  147 

more,  which  can  not  only  make  these  tiny  living  things, 
but,  more  wonderful  still,  make  them  make  themselves  ? 
For  what  is  growth,  but  a  thing  making  itself  ?  What 
is  the  seed  growing  into  a  plant,  the  plant  into  a  flower, 
the  flower  to  a  seed  again,  but  that  thing  making  itself, 
transforming  itself,  by  an  inward  law  of  life  which  God's 
Spirit  gives  it.  I  tell  you  the  more  earnestly  and  care- 
fully you  examine  into  the  creation,  birth,  growth  of  any 
living  thing,  even  of  the  daisy  on  the  grass  outside  ;  the 
more  you  inquire  what  it  really  is,  how  it  came  to  be  like 
what  it  is,  how  it  got  where  it  is,  and  so  forth  ;  you  will 
be  led  away  into  questions  which  may  well  make  you 
dizzy  with  thinking,  so  strange,  so  vast,  so  truly  miracu- 
lous is  the  history  of  every  organised  creature  upon 
earth.  And  when  you  recollect  (as  you  are  bound  to  do 
on  this  day),  that  each  of  these  things  is  the  work  of  the 
ever  blessed  Trinity ;  that  upon  every  flower  and  every 
insect,  generation  after  generation  of  them,  since  the 
world  was  made,  the  ever  blessed  Trinity  has  been  at 
work,  God  the  Father  thinking  and  conceiving  each 
thing,  in  His  eternal  Mind,  God  the  Son  creating  it  and 
putting  it  into  the  world,  each  thing  according  to  the 
law  of  its  life,  God  the  Holy  Ghost  inspiring  it  with  life 
and  law,  that  it  may  grow  and  thrive  after  its  kind — 
when  such  thoughts  as  these  crowd  upon  you,  and  they 
ought  to  crowd  upon  you,  this  day  of  all  the  year,  at 
the  sight  of  the  meanest  insect  under  your  feet  ;  then 
what  can  a  rational  man  do,  but  bow  his  head  and  wor- 
ship in  awful  silence,  adoring  humbly  Him  who  sits 
upon  the  throne  of  the  universe,  and  who  says  to  us  in 
all  His  works,  even  as  He  said  to  Job  of  old,  "  Where 


148  The  Glory  of  the  Trinity, 

wast  thou  when  I  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth  ? 
When  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons 
of  God  shouted  for  joy  ?  Hast  thou  entered  into  the 
springs  of  the  sea  ?  or  hast  thou  seen  the  doors  of  the 
shadow  of  death  1  K newest  thou  the  ordinances  of 
heaven  ?  Canst  thou  lift  up  thy  voice  to  the  clouds, 
that  abundance  of  waters  may  cover  thee  ?  Canst  thou 
send  lightnings,  that  they  may  go,  and  say  unto  thee, 
Here  we  are  ?  Wilt  thou  hunt  the  prey  for  the  lion  ? 
or  fill  the  appetite  of  the  young  lions  ?  Gavest  thou 
the  goodly  wings  unto  the  peacocks  ?  or  wings  and 
feathers  unto  the  ostrich  ?  Hast  thou  given  the  horse 
strength  ?  hast  thou  clothed  his  neck  with  thunder  ? 
Doth  the  hawk  fly  by  thy  wisdom  %  doth  the  eagle 
mount  up  at  thy  command  ? " 

When  God  speaks  thus  to  us — and  He  does  thus 
speak  to  us,  by  every  cloud  and  shower,  and  by  every 
lightning  flash  and  ray  of  sunshine,  and  by  every  living 
thing  which  flies  in  air,  or  swims  in  water,  or  creeps 
upon  the  earth — what  can  we  say,  save  what  Job  said — 
*'  Behold,  I  am  vile  ;  what  shall  I  answer  thee  ?  I  will 
lay  mine  hand  upon  my  mouth." 

But  if  God  be  so  awful  in  the  material  world,  of 
which  our  five  senses  tell  us,  how  much  more  awful  is 
He  in  that  spiritual  and  moral  world,  of  which  our 
senses  tell  us  nought  ?  That  unseen  world  of  justice 
and  truthfulness,  of  honour  and  duty,  of  reverence  and 
loyalty,  of  love  and  charity,  of  purity  and  self-sacrifice  ; 
that  spiritual  world,  I  say,  which  can  be  only  seen  by 
the  spiritual  eye  of  the  soul,  and  felt  by  the  spiritual 
heart  of  the  soul  ?      How  awful  is  God  in  that  eternal 


The  Glory  of  the  Trinity,  149 

world  of  right  and  wrong ;  wherein  cherubim,  seraphim, 
angel  and  archangel  cry  to  Him  for  ever,  not  merely 
Mighty,  mighty,  mighty,  but  "  Holy,  holy,  holy."  How 
awful  to  poor  creatures  like  us.  For  then  comes  in  the 
question — not  merely  is  God  good  ?  but,  am  not  I  bad  ? 
Is  God  sinless  ?  but,  am  not  I  a  sinner  ?  Is  God  pure  ? 
but  am  not  I  impure  ?  Is  God  wise  ?  then  am  not  I  a 
fool  ?  And  when  once  that  thought  has  crossed  our  minds, 
must  we  not  tremble,  must  we  not  say  with  Isaiah  of  old, 
''Woe  is  me  !  for  I  am  undone  ;  because  I  am  a  man  of 
unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of 
unclean  lips  :  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King,  the 
Lord  of  hosts." 

Yes  ;  awful  as  is  the  thought  of  God's  perfection  in 
the  material  world  about  us,  more  awful  still  is  the 
thought  of  His  perfection  in  the  spiritual  world.  So 
awful,  that  we  might  well  be  overwhelmed  with  dread 
and  horror  at  the  sight  of  God's  righteousness  and  our 
sinfulness ;  were  it  not  for  the  gracious  message  of 
revelation  that  tells  us,  that  God,  the  Father  of  heaven, 
is  OUT  Father  likewise,  who  so  loved  us  that  He  gave  for 
us  His  only  begotten,  God  the  Son ;  that  for  His  sake 
our  sins  might  be  freely  forgiven  us  ;  that  God  the  Son  is 
our  Atonement,  our  Redeemer,  our  King,  our  Intercessor, 
our  Example,  our  Saviour  in  life  and  death ;  and  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  our  Comforter,  our  Guide,  our  Inspirer,  who 
will  give  to  our  souls  the  eternal  life  which  will  never 
perish,  even  as  He  gives  to  our  bodies  the  mortal  life 
which  must  perish. 

On  the  mercy  and  the  love  of  the  ever  blessed  Trinity, 
shown  forth  in  Christ  upon  His  cross,  we  can  cast  our- 


150  The  Glory  of  the  Trinity. 

selves  with  all  our  sins  ;  we  can  cry  to  Him,  and  not  In 
vain,  for  forgiveness  and  for  sauctifi cation  ;  for  a  clean 
heart  and  a  right  spirit ;  and  that  we  may  become  holy 
and  humble  men  of  heart.  We  can  join  our  feeble 
praises  to  that  hymn  of  praise  which  goes  up  for  ever 
to  God  from  suns  and  stars,  clouds  and  showers,  beasts 
and  birds,  and  every  living  thing,  giving  Him  thanks  for 
ever  for  His  great  glory.  0  all  ye  works  of  the  Lord, 
bless  ye  the  Lord  ;  praise  Him  and  magnify  Him  for 
ever.  O  ye  holy  and  humble  Men  of  heart,  bless  ye  the 
Lord  ;  praise  Him  and  magnify  BLim  for  ever. 


SERMON    XVIL 

LOVE    OF    GOD    AND    MAN. 

FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  TRINITY. 

Eversley.     Chester  Cathedral,  1872. 

1  John  iv.  16,  21. 

**  God  is  love ;  and  lie  that  dwelleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God,  and 
God  in  him.  .  .  .  And  this  commandment  have  we  from  Him, 
That  he  who  loveth  God  love  his  brother  also." 

This  is  the  first  Sunday  after  Trinity.  On  it  the  Church 
begins  to  teach  us  morals, — that  is,  how  to  live  a  good 
life ;  and  therefore  she  begins  by  teaching  us  the  founda- 
tion of  all  morals, — which  is  love, — love  to  God  and 
love  to  man. 

But  which  is  to  come  first, — love  to  God,  or  love  to 
man? 

On  this  point  men  in  different  ages  have  differed,  and 
will  differ  to  the  end.  One  party  has  said.  You  must 
love  God  first,  and  let  love  to  man  come  after  as  it  can  ; 
and  others  have  contradicted  that  and  said,  You  must 
love  all  mankind,  and  let  love  to  God  take  its  chance. 
But  St  John  says,  neither  of  the  two  is  before  or 
after  the  other ;  you  cannot  truly  love  God  without  lov- 
ing man,  or  love  man  without  loving  God.  St  John 
says  so,  being  full  of  the  Spirit  of  God  :  but  alas  !  men, 
who  are  not  full  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  only  let 
themselves  be  taught  by  Him  now  and  then  and  here 


152  •    Love  of  God  a?id  Man. 

and  there,  have  found  it  very  difficult  to  understand 
St  John,  and  still  more  difficult  to  obey  him  ;  and  there- 
fore there  always  have  been  in  God's  Church  these  two 
parties  ;  one  saying,  You  must  love  God  first,  and  the 
other.  You  must  love  your  neighbour  first, — and  each,  of 
course,  quoting  Scripture  to  prove  that  they  are  in  the 
right. 

The  great  leader  of  the  first  party — perhaps  the 
founder  of  it,  as  far  as  I  am  aware — was  the  famous  St 
Augustine.  He  first  taught  Christians  that  they  ought 
to  love  God  with  the  same  passionate  affection  with 
which  they  love  husband  or  wife,  mother  or  child;  and  to 
use  towards  God  the  same  words  of  affection  which  those 
who  love  really  utter  one  to  each  other.  I  will  not 
say  much  of  that ;  still  less  will  I  mention  any  of  the 
words  which  good  men  and  women  who  are  of  that 
way  of  thinking  use  towards  God.  I  should  be  sorry 
to  hold  up  such  language  to  blame,  even  if  I  do  not 
agree  with  it ;  and  still  more  sorry  to  hold  it  up  to  ridi- 
cule from  vulgar-minded  persons  if  there  be  any  in  this 
Church.  All  I  say  is,  that  all  which  has  been  written 
since  about  this  passionate  and  rapturous  love  toward 
God  by  the  old  monks  and  nuns,  and  by  the  Protestant 
Pietists,  both  English  and  foreign,  is  all  in  St  Augustine 
better  said  than  it  ever  has  been  since.  Some  of  the 
Pietist  hymns,  as  we  knov/,  are  very  beautiful ;  but  there 
are  things  in  them  which  one  wishes  left  out ;  which 
seem,  or  ought  to  seem,  irreverent  when  used  toward 
God;  which  hurt,  or  ought  to  hurt,  our  plain,  cool,  honest 
English  common-sense.  A  true  Englishman  does  not 
like  to  say  more  than  he  feels;  and  the  more  he  feels,  the 


Love  of  God  and  Man,  153 

more  he  likes  to  keep  it  to  himself,  instead  of  parading 
it  and  talking  of  it  before  men.  Still  waters  run  deep, 
he  holds ;  and  he  is  right  for  himself ;  only  he  must  not 
judge  others,  or  think  that  because  he  cannot  speak  to 
God  in  such  passionate  language  as  St  Augustine,  who 
was  an  African,  a  southern  man,  with  much  stronger 
feelings  than  we  Englishmen  usually  have,  that  there- 
fore St  Augustine,  or  those  who  copy  him  now,  do  not 
really  feel  what  they  say.  But,  nevertheless,  plain 
common-sense  people,  such  as  most  Englishmen  are,  are 
afraid  of  this  enthusiastical  religion.  They  say.  We  do 
not  pretend  to  feel  this  rapturous  love  to  God,  how  much- 
soever  we  may  reverence  Him,  and  wish  to  keep  His 
commandments  ;  and  we  do  not  desire  to  feel  it.  For  we 
see  that  people  who  have  talked  in  this  way  about  God 
have  been  almost  always  monks  and  nuns ;  or  brain-sick, 
disappointed  persons,  who  have  no  natural  and  whole- 
some bent  for  their  affections.  And  ev^n  though  this 
kind  of  religion  may  be  very  well  for  them,  it  is  not  the 
religion  for  a  plain  honest  man  who  has  a  wife  and 
family  and  his  bread  to  earn  in  the  world,  and  has  chil- 
dren to  provide  for,  and  his  duty  to  do  in  the  State  as 
well  as  in  the  Church.  And  more,  they  say,  these  en- 
thusiastic, rapturous  feelings  do  not  seem  to  make  people 
better,  and  more  charitable,  and  more  loving.  Some 
really  good  and  charitable  people  say  that  they  have  these 
feelings,  but  for  all  that  we  can  see  they  would  -be  just 
as  good  and  charitable  without  the  feelings,  while  most 
persons  who  take  up  with  this  sort  of  religion  are  not  the 
better  for  it.  They  do  not  control  their  tempers  ;  they 
can  be  full, — as  they  say, — of  love  and  devotion  to  God 


1 54  Love  of  God  and  Man, 

one  minute,  but  why  are  they  the  next  minute  peevish, 
proud,  self-willed,  harsh  and  cruel  to  those  who  differ  from 
them  ?  Their  religion  does  not  make  them  love  their 
neighbours.  In  old  4imes  (when  persecution  was  allowed), 
it  made  them,  or  at  least  allowed  them,  to  persecute,  tor- 
ment, and  kill  their  neighbours,  and  fancy  that  by  such 
conduct  they  did  God  service ;  and  now  it  tempts  them 
to  despise  their  neighbours — to  look  on  every  one  who 
has  not  these  strange,  intense  feelings  which  they  say 
they  have,  as  unconverted,  and  lost,  and  doomed  to  ever- 
lasting destruction.  Not,  says  the  plain  man,  that  we  are 
more  satisfied  with  the  mere  philanthropist  of  modern 
times, — ^the  man  who  professes  to  love  the  whole  human 
race  without  loving  God,  or  indeed  often  believing  that 
there  is  a  God  to  love.  To  us  he  seems  as  unloving  a 
person  as  the  mere  fanatic.  Meanwhile,  plain  people 
say,  we  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  either  fanaticism 
or  philanthropy^ — we  will  try  to  do  our  duty  where  God 
has  put  us,  and  to  behave  justly  and  charitably  by  our 
neighbours ;  but  beyond  that  we  cannot  go.  We  will 
not  pretend  to  what  we  do  not  feel. 

My  friends,  there  is,  as  usual,  truth  on  both  sides, — 
both  are  partly  right,  and  both  are  partly  wroug.  And 
both  may  go  on  arguing  against  each  other,  and  quoting 
texts  of  Scripture  against  each  other  till  the  last  day ;  if 
they  will  not  listen  to  St  John's  message  in  the  text. 
One  party  will  say,  It  is  written,  Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  soul,  and 
strength,  and  mind  ;  and  if  thou  doest  that,  and  thy  soul 
is  filled  with  love  for  the  Creator,  thou  canst  have  no 
love  left  for  the  creature ;   or  if  thy  heart  is  filled  with 


Love  of  God  and  Man.  155 

love  for  the  creature,  there  is  no  room  left  for  love  to 
God.  And  then  thou  wilt  find  that  God  is  a  jealous 
God,  and  will  take  from  thee  what  thou  lovest,  because 
He  will  not  have  His  honour  given  to  another. 

And  to  that  the  other  party  v^ill  answer,  Has  not 
God  said,  ''  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself  ?  " 
Has  He  not  commanded  us  to  love  our  wives,  our  chil- 
dren ?  And  even  if  He  had  not,  would  not  common 
sense  tell  us  that  He  intended  us  to  do  so  ?  Do  you 
think  that  God  is  a  tempter  and  a  deceiver  ?  He  has 
given  us  feelings  and  powers.  Has  He  not  meant  us  to 
use  them  ?  He  has  given  us  wife  and  child.  Did  He 
mean  us  not  to  love  them,  after  He  has  made  us  love 
them,  we  know  not  how  or  why  ?  You  say  that  God  is 
a  jealous  God.  Yes,  jealous  He  may  be  of  our  worship- 
ping false  gods,  and  idols,  saints,  or  anything  or  person 
save  Himself, — jealous  of  our  doing  wrong,  and  ruining 
ourselves,  and  wandering  out  of  the  path  of  His  com- 
mandments, in  which  alone  is  life ;  but  jealous  of  our 
loving  our  fellow  creature  as  well  as  Himself,  never. 
That  sort  of  jealous}?"  is  a  base  and  wicked  passion  in 
man,  and  dare  we  attribute  it  to  God  ?  What  a  thing  to 
say  of  the  loving  God,  that  He  takes  away  people's  chil- 
dren, husbands,  and  friends,  because  they  love  them  too 
much  ! 

Then  the  first  party  will  say.  But  is  it  not  written, 
"  Love  not  the  world,  neither  the  things  that  are  in  the 
world.  If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father 
is  not  in  him  ? "  And  to  that,  the  second  party  will 
answer,  And  do  you  say  that  we  are  not  to  love  this 
fair  and  wonderful  earth  which   God    has  made  for  our 


1 56  Love  of  God  and  Man. 

use,  and  put  us  into  it  ?  Why  did  He  make  it  lovely  \ 
Why  did  He  put  us  into  it,  if  He  did  not  mean  us  to 
enjoy  it  ?  That  is  contrary  to  common  sense,  and  con- 
trary to  the  whole  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament.  But 
if  by  the  world  you  mean  the  world  of  man,  the  society 
in  which  we  live — dare  you  compare  a  Christian  and 
civilized  country  like  England  with  that  detestable  Roman 
world,  sunk  in  all  abominable  vices,  against  which  St  John 
and  St  Paul  prophesied  ?  Are  not  such  thoughts  unjust 
and  uncharitable  to  your  neighbours,  to  your  country,  to 
all  mankind  %  Then  the  first  party  will  say.  But  you  do 
away  with  all  devoutness  ;  and  the  second  party  will 
answer.  And  you  do  away  with  all  morality,  for  you  tell 
people  that  the  only  way  to  please  God  is  to  feel  about 
Him  in  a  way  which  not  oue  person  in  a  thousand  can 
feel ;  and  therefore  what  will  come,  and  does  come,  of 
your  binding  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne 
and  laying  them  on  men's  shoulders  is  this, — that  the 
generality  of  people  will  care  nothing  about  being  good 
or  doing  right,  because  you  teach  them  that  it  will  not 
please  God,  and  will  leave  all  religion  to  a  few  who  have 
these  peculiar  fancies  and  feelings. 

And  so  they  may  aigue  on  for  ever,  unless  they  will 
take  honestly  the  plain  words  of  St  John,  and  see  that 
to  love  their  neighbour  is  to  love  God,  and  to  love  God 
is  to  love  their  neighbour.  So  says  St  John  clearly 
enough  twice  over.  "God  is  love;  and  he  that  dwelleth 
in  love  dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him."  The  two 
things  are  one,  and  the  one  cannot  be  without  the 
other. 

Does  this  seem  strange  to  you  ?     Oh,  my  friends,  it 


Love  of  God  and  Man.  1 5 7 

need  not  seem  strange,  if  you  will  but  consider  who  God 
is,  and  who  man  is.  Thou  lovest  God  ?  Then,  if  thou 
lovest  Him,  thou  must  needs  love  all  that  He  has  made. 
And  what  has  He  made  ?  All  things,  except  sin  ;  and 
what  sin  is  He  has  told  thee.  He  has  given  thee  ten 
commandments,  and  let  no  man  give  thee  an  eleventh 
commandment  out  of  his  own  conceit  and  will  worship  ; 
calling  unclean  what  God  hath  made  clean,  and  cursing 
what  God  hath  blessed.  Thou  lovest  God  ?  Then  thou 
lovest  all  that  is  good  ;  for  God  is  good,  and  from  Him 
all  good  things  come.  But  what  is  good  ?  All  is  good 
except  sin  ;  for  it  is  written,  "  God  saw  every  thing  that 
He  had  made,  and,  behold,  it  was  very  good."  Therefore, 
if  thou  lovest  God,  thou  must  love  all  things,  for  all 
things  are  of  Him,  and  by  Him,  and  through  Him  ;  and 
in  Him  all  live  and  move  and  have  their  being.  Then 
thou  wilt  truly  love  God.  Thou  wilt  be  content  with  God; 
and  so  thy  love  will  cast  out  fear.  Thou  wilt  trust  God  ; 
thou  wilt  have  the  mind  of  God  ;  thou  wilt  be  satisfied 
with  God's  working,  from  the  rise  and  fall  of  great 
nations  to  the  life  and  death  of  the  smallest  gnat  which 
dances  in  the  sun  ;  thou  wilt  say  for  ever,  and  concern- 
in  2^  all  things,  I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed.  It  is 
the  good  Lord,  let  Him  do  what  seemeth  Him  good. 

Again.  Thou  lovest  thy  neighbour ;  thou  lovest  wife 
and  child  ;  thou  lovest  thy  friends  ;  thou  lovest  or  wish  est 
to  love  all  men,  and  to  do  them  good.  Then  thou  lovest 
God.  For  what  is  it  that  thou  lovest  in  thy  neighbour  ? 
Not  that  which  is  bad  in  him  ?  No,  but  that  which  is 
good.  Thou  lovest  him  for  his  kindUness,  his  honesty, 
his  helpfulness, — for  some  good  quality  in  him.      But 


158  Love  of  God  and  Man, 

from  whom  does  that  good  come,  save  from  Chrisl 
and  from  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  from  whom  alone  come 
aJl  good  gifts  ?  Yes,  if  you  will  receive  it ; — when 
wo  love  our  neighbours,  it  is  God  in  them,  Christ  in 
them,  whom  we  love, — Christ  in  them,  the  hope  of 
glory. 

What,  some  one  will  ask,  when  a  man  loves  a  fair 
face,  does  he  love  Christ  then  ?  Ah  !  my  friends,  that 
is  not  true  love,  as  all  know  well  enough  if  they  will  let 
their  own  hearts  tell  them  truth.  True  love  is  when 
two  people  love  each  other  for  the  goodness  which  is  in 
them.  True  love  is  the  love  which  endures  after  beauty 
has  faded,  and  youth,  and  health,  and  all  that  seems  to 
make  life  worth  having  is  gone.  Have  we  not  seen  ere 
now  two  old  people,  worn,  crippled,  diseased,  yet  living  on 
together,  helping  each  other,  nursing  each  other,  tottering 
on  hand  in  hand  to  the  grave,  dying,  perhaps,  almost  to- 
gether,— because  neither  cared  to  live  when  the  other  is 
gone  before,  and  loving  all  the  while  as  truly  and  tenderly 
as  in  the  days  of  youth  ?  They  know  not  why.  No  ;  but 
God  knows  why.  It  is  Christ  in  each  other  whom  they 
love  ; — Christ,  the  hope  of  glory.  Yes,  we  have  seen 
that,  surely ;  and  seen  in  it  one  of  the  most  beautiful, 
the  most  divine  sights  upon  earth, — one  which  should 
teach  us,  if  we  will  look  at  it  aright,  that  when  we 
love  our  neighbour  truly,  it  is  the  divine  part  in 
him,  the  spark  of  eternal  goodness  in  him, — what  St 
Paul  says  is  Christ  in  him, — which  we  admire,  and  cling 
to,  and  love. 

But  by  that  rule  we  cannot  love  every  one,  for  every 


Love  of  God  and  Man.  1 59 

one  is  not  good.  Be  not  too  sure  of  that.  All  are  not 
good,  alas  !  but  in  all  there  is  some  good.  It  may  be  a 
very  little, — a  hope  of  glory  in  them,  even  though  that 
hope  be  very  faint.  It  may  be  dying  out ;  it  may  die 
altogether,  and  their  souls  may  become  utterly  base  and 
evil,  and  be  lost  for  ever.  Still,  while  there  is  life 
there  is  hope,  even  for  the  worst ;  and  just  as  far  as 
our  hearts  are  full  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  we  shall  see  the 
Spirit  of  God  striving  with  the  souls  even  of  the  worst 
men,  and  love  them  for  that.  Just  as  far  as  we  have 
the  likeness  of  Christ  in  us,  we  shall  be  quick  to  catch 
the  least  gleam  of  His  likeness  in  our  neighbours,  and 
love  them  for  that.  Just  as  far  as  our  hearts  are  full 
of  love  we  shall  see  something  worth  loving  in  every 
human  being  we  meet,  and  love  them  for  that.  I 
know  it  is  difficult.  It  is  not  gotten  in  a  day,  that 
wide  and  deep  spirit  of  love  to  all  mankind  which  St 
Paul  had ;  which  made  him  weep  with  those  who  wept 
and  rejoice  with  those  who  rejoiced,  and  become  all 
things  to  all  men,  if  by  any  means  he  might  save  some. 
Before  our  eyes  are  cleansed  and  purged  to  see  some 
trace  of  good  in  every  man,  our  hearts  must  be  cleansed 
and  purged  from  all  selfishness,  and  bigotry,  and  pride, 
and  fancifulness,  and  anger,  .so  that  they  may  be  filled 
with  the  loving  Spirit  of  God.  As  long  as  a  taint  of 
selfishness  or  pride  remains  in  us,  we  shall  be  in  con- 
tinual danger  of  hating  those  whom  God  does  not  hate, 
despising  those  whom  God  does  not  despise,  and  con- 
demning those  whom  God  does  not  condemn.  But  if 
self  is  cast  out  of  us,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  and  of  Christ 
enthroned  in  our  hearts,  then  we  shall  love  our  brother, 


1 60  Love  of  God  and  Man. 

and  in  loving  him  love  God,  who  made  him  ;  and  so, 
dwelling  in  love,  we  shall  dwell  in  God,  and  God  in  us  : 
— to  which  true  and  only  everlasting  life  may  He  of  His 
mercy  bring  us,  either  in  this  world  or  in  the  world  to 
come.     Amen. 


SERMON    XVIII. 

COURAGE. 

Chester  Cathedral,  1871. 

Acts  iv.  13,  18-20. 

"Now  when  they  saw  the  boldness  of  Peter  and  John,  and  perceived 
that  they  were  unlearned  and  ignorant  men,  they  marvelled  ;  and 
they  took  knowledge  of  them,  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus.  .  .  . 
And  they  called  them,  and  commanded  them  not  to  speak  at  all 
nor  teach  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  But  Peter  and  .John  answered  and 
said  unto  them.  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken 
unto  you  more  than  unto  God,  judge  ye.  For  we  cannot  but  speak 
the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard." 

Last  Thursday  was  St  Peter's  Day.  The  congrega- 
tion on  that  day  was,  as  far  as  I  could  perceive,  no 
larger  than  usual ;  and  this  is  not  a  matter  of  surprise. 
Since  we  gave  up  at  the  Reformation  the  superstitious 
practice  of  praying  to  the  saints,  saints'  days  have  sunk 
— and  indeed  sunk  too  much — into  neglect.  For  most 
men's  religion  has  a  touch  of  self-interest  in  it ;  and 
therefore  when  people  discovered  that  they  could  get 
nothing  out  of  St  Peter  or  St  John  by  praying  to  them, 
they  began  to  forget  the  very  memory,  many  of  them,  of 
St  Peter,  St  John,  and  other  saints  and  apostles.  They 
forget,  too  often,  still,  that  though  praying  to  any  saint, 
or  angel,  or  other  created  being,  is  contrary  both  to 
reason  and  to  Scripture;   yet  it  is  according  to  reason 

L 


i62  Courage. 

aod  to  Scripture  to  commemorate  them.  That  is  to 
remember  them,  to  study  their  characters,  and  to  thank 
God  for  them — both  for  the  virtues  which  He  bestowed 
on  them,  and  the  example  which  He  has  given  us  in 
them. 

For  these  old  saints  lived  and  died  for  our  example. 
They  are,  next  of  course  to  the  Lord  Himself,  the  ideals, 
the  patterns,  of  Christian  life — the  primeval  heroes  of 
our  holy  faith.  They  shew  to  us  of  what  stuff  the  early 
Christians  were  made ;  what  sort  of  stone — to  use  St 
Paul's  own  figure, — the  Lord  chose  wherewith  to  build 
up  His  Church.  They  are  our  spiritual  ancestors,  for 
they  spread  the  Gospel  into  all  lands;  and  they  spread  it, 
remember  always,  not  only  by  preaching  what  they  knew, 
but  by  being  what  they  were.  Their  characters,  their 
personal  histories,  are  as  important  to  us  as  their 
writings ;  nay,  in  the  case  of  St  Peter,  even  more  im- 
portant. For  if  these  two  epistles  of  his  had  been  lost, 
and  never  handed  down  to  us,  St  Peter  himself  would 
have  remained,  as  he  is  drawn  in  the  Gospels  and  the 
Acts,  a  grand  and  colossal  human  figure,  every  line  and 
feature  of  which  is  full  of  meaning  and  full  of  teaching 
to  us. 

Now  I  think  that  the  quality — the  grace  of  God — 
which  St  Peter's  character  and  story  specially  force  on 
our  notice,  is,  the  true  courage  which  comes  by  faith. 
I  say,  the  courage  which  comes  by  faith.  There  is 
a  courage  which ^!  does  not  come  by  faith.  There  is 
brute  courage,  which  comes  from  hardness  of  heart, 
from  stupidity,  obstinacy,  or  anger,  which  does  not  see 
danger,  or  does  not  feel  pain.      That  is  the  courage  of 


Courage.  163 

the  brute.  One  does  not  blame  it,  or  call  it  wrons:.  It 
is  good  in  its  place,  as  all  natural  things  are,  which  God 
has  made.  It  is  good  enough  for  the  brutes,  but  it 
is  not  good  enough  for  man.  You  cannot  trust  it 
in  man.  And  the  .more  a  man  is  what  a  man 
should  be,  the  less  he  can  trust  it.  The  more  mind 
and  understanding  a  man  has,  so  as  to  be  able  to  foresee 
danger,  and  measure  it,  the  more  chance  there  is  of  his 
brute  courage  giving  way.  The  more  feeling  a  man 
has,  the  more  keenly  he  feels  pain  of  body,  or  pain 
of  mind,  such  as  shame,  loneliness,  the  dislike,  ridicule, 
and  contempt  of  his  fellow  men  ;  in  a  word,  the  more  of 
a  man  he  is,  and  the  less  of  a  mere  brute,  the  more 
chance  there  is  of  his  brute  courage  breaking  down, 
just  when  he  wants  it  most  to  keep  him  up,  by  leaving 
him  to  play  the  coward  and  come  to  shame.  Yes.  To 
go  through  with  a  difficult  and  dangerous  undertaking, 
a  man  wants  more  than  brute  courage.  He  wants 
spiritual  courage — the  courage  which  comes  by  faith. 
He  needs  to  have  faith  in  what  he  is  doing ;  to  be 
certain  that  he  is  doing  his  duty,  to  be  certain  that  he  is 
in  the  right.  Certain  that  right  will  conquer,  certain 
that  God  will  make  it  conquer,  by  him  or  by  some  one 
else  ;  certain  that  he  will  either  conquer  honourably,  or 
fail  honourably,  for  God  is  with  him.  In  a  word,  to 
have  true  courage,  man  needs  faith  in  God. 

To  give  one  example.  Look  at  the  class  of  men  who, 
in  all  England,  undergo  the  most  fearful  dangers;  who 
know  not  at  what  hour  of  any  night  they  may  not  be 
called  up  to  the  most  serious  labour  and  responsibility, 
with  the  chance  of  a  horrible  and  torturing  death.      I 


1 64  Courage, 

mean  the  firemen  of  our  great  cities,  than  whom 
there  are  no  steadier,  braver,  nobler-hearted  men.  Not 
a  week  passes  without  one  or  more  of  these  firemen,  in 
trying  to  save  life  and  property,  doing  things  which  are 
altogether  heroic.  What  do  you  fancy  keeps  them  up 
to  their  work  ?  High  pay  ?  The  amusement  and  excite- 
ment of  fires  ?  The  vanity  of  being  praised  for  their 
courage  ?  My  friends,  those  would  be  but  paltry  weak 
motives,  which  would  not  keep  a  man's  heart  calm  and 
his  head  clear  under  such  responsibility  and  danger  as 
theirs.  No.  It  is  the  sense  of  duty, — the  knowledge 
that  they  are  doing  a  good  and  a  noble  work  in  saving 
the  lives  of  human  beings  and  the  wealth  of  the  nation, — • 
the  knowledge  that  they  are  in  God's  hands,  and  that 
no  real  evil  can  happen  to  him  who  is  doing  right, — 
that  to  him  even  death  at  his  post  is  not  a  loss,  but  a 
gain.  In  short,  faith  in  God,  more  or  less  clear,  is  what 
gives  those  men  their  strong  and  quiet  courage.  God 
grant  that  you  and  I,  if  ever  we  have  dangerous  work 
to  do,  may  get  true  courage  from  the  same  fountain 
of  ghostly  strength. 

Now,  St  Peter's  history  is,  I  think,  a  special  example 
of  this.  He  was  naturally,  it  seems,  a  daring  man, — a 
man  of  great  brute  courage.  So  far  so  good  ;  but  he  had 
to  be  taught,  by  severe  lessons,  that  his  brute  courage 
was  not  enough, — that  he  wanted  spiritual  courage,  the 
courage  which  came  by  faith,  and  that  if  that  failed  him, 
the  brute  courage  would  fail  too. 

He  throws  himself  into  the  lake,  to  walk  upon  the 
water  to  Christ ;  and  as  soon  as  he  is  afraid  he  begins  to 
sink.      The  Lord  saves  him,  and  tells  him  why  he  had 


Courage.  165 

sank.  Because  he  had  doubted,  his  faith  had  failed  him. 
So  he  found  out  the  weakness  of  courage  without  faith. 
Then,  again,  he  tells  our  Lord,  "  Though  all  men 
shall  be  offended  of  Thee,  yet  will  I  never  be  offended. 
I  am  ready  to  go  with  Thee  both  into  prison,  and 
to  death."  And  shortly  after,  his  mere  animal  courage 
breaks  out  again,  and  does  what  little  it  can  do,  and 
little  enough.  He  draws  sword,  single-handed,  on  the 
soldiers  in  the  garden,  and  cuts  down  a  servant  of  the 
high  priest's,  and  perhaps  would  have  flung  his  life  away, 
desperately  and  uselessly,  had  not  our  Lord  restrained 
him.  But  when  the  fit  of  excitement  is  past,  his  animal 
courage  deserts  him,  and  his  moral  courage  too,  and  he 
denies  his  Lord.  So  he  found  out  that  he  was  like 
too  many, — full  of  bodily  courage,  perhaps,  but  morally 
weak.  He  had  to  undergo  a  great  change.  He  had  to 
be  converted  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  and  strengthened 
by  that  Spirit,  to  have  a  boldness  which  no  worldly  cour- 
age can  give.  Then,  when  he  was  strong  himself,  he 
was  able  to  strengthen  his  brethren.  Then  he  was  able, 
ignorant  and  unlearned  man  as  he  was,  to  stand  up  be- 
fore the  high  priests  and  rulers  of  his  nation,  and  to  say, 
simply  and  firmly,  without  boasting,  without  defiance, 
''Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sicfht  of  God  to  heaj-ken 
unto  you  more  than  unto  God,  judge  ye.  For  we  cannot 
but  speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard." 
Yes,  my  friends,  it  is  the  courage  which  comes  by  faith 
which  makes  truly  brave  men, — men  like  St  Peter  and 
St  John.  He  who  can  say,  I  am  right,  can  say  likewise, 
God  is  on  my  side,  and  I  will  not  fear  what  man  can  do 
to  me. 


1 66  Courage. 

"  We  will  not  fear,"  said  the  Psalmist,  ''  though  the 
earth  be  removed,  and  though  the  hills  be  carried  into 
the  midst  of  the  sea."  "  The  just  man,  who  holds  firm 
to  his  purpose,"  says  a  wise  old  heathen,  "  he  will  not  be 
shaker',  from  his  solid  mind  by  the  rage  of  the  mob  bid- 
ding him  do  base  things  or  the  frowns  of  the  tyrant  who 
persecutes  him.  Though  the  world  were  to  crumble  to 
pieces  round  him,  its  ruins  would  strike  him  without 
making  him  tremble."  "Whether  it  be  right,"  said  Peter 
and  John  to  the  great  men  and  judges  of  the  Jews,  ''  to 
hearken  to  God  more  than  to  you,  judge  ye.  We  cannot 
but  speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard." 
We  cannot  but  speak  what  we  know  to  be  true. 

It  was  that  courage  which  enabled  our  forefathers, — ■ 
and  not  the  great  men  among  them,  not  the  rich,  not 
even  the  learned,  save  a  few  valiant  bishops  and  clergy, 
but  for  the  most  part  poor,  unlearned,  labouring  men 
and  women, — to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  Popery,  and  say, 
"Reason  and  Scripture  tell  us  that  it  is  absurd  and 
wrong  to  worship  images  and  pray  to  saints, — tell  us 
that  your  doctrines  are  not  true.  And  we  will  say  so  in 
spite  of  the  Pope  and  all  his  power, — in  spite  of  torture 
and  a  fiery  death.  We  cannot  palter ;  we  cannot  dis- 
semble ;  we  cannot  shelter  ourselves  under  half-truths, 
and  make  a  covenant  with  lies.  '  Whether  it  be  right 
in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than  to 
God,  judge  ye.  We  cannot  but  speak  the  things  which 
we  know  to  be  true.' " 

So  it  has  been  in  all  ages,  and  so  it  will  be  for  ever. 
Faith,  the  certainty  that  a  man  is  right,  will  give  him  a 
courage  which  will  enable  him  to  resist,  if  need  be,  the 


Courage.  167 

rich  ones,  the  strong  ones,  the  learned  ones  of  the  earth. 
It  has  made  poor  unlearned  men  heroes  and  deliverers 
of  their  countrymen  from  slavery  and  ignorance.  It  has 
made  weak  women  martyrs  acd  saints.  It  has  enabled 
men  who  made  gi'eat  discoveries  to  face  unbelief,  ridicule, 
neglect,  poverty;  knowing  that  their  worth  would  be 
acknowledged  at  last,  their  names  honoured  at  last  as 
benefactors  by  the  very  men  who  laughed  at  them  and 
reviled  them.  It  has  made  men,  shut  up  in  prison  for 
long  weary  years  for  doing  what  was  right  and  saying 
what  was  true,  endure  manfully  for  the  sake  of  some 
good  cause,  and  say, — 

"  Stone  walls  do  not  a  prison  make, 

Nor  iron  bars  a  cage  ; 
Minds  innocejit  and  quiet  take 

That  for  an  hermitage. 
If  I  has-^e  freedom  in  my  thought. 

And  in  my  love  am  free, 
Angels  alone,  that  soar  above, 

Enjoy  such  liberty." 

Yes  ;  settle  it  in  your  hearts,  all  of  you.  There  is 
but  one  thing  which  you  have  to  fear  in  earth  or  heaven, 
— being  untrue  to  your  better  selves,  and  therefore  un- 
true to  God.  If  you  will  not  do  the  thing  you  know  to 
be  right,  and  say  the  thing  you  know  to  be  ti'ue,  thr-n 
indeed  you  are  weak.  You  are  a  coward,  and  sin 
against  God,  and  suffer  the  penalty  of  your  cowardice. 
You  desert  God,  and  therefore  you  cannoL  expect  Him 
to  stand  by  you. 

But  if  you  will  do  the  thing  you  know  to  be 
right,  and  say  the  thing  you  know  to  be  true,  then 
what  can  hajm  you  ?      Who  will  harm    you,   asks  St 


1 68  Courage, 

Peter  himself,  ''  if  you  be  followers  of  that  which  is 
good  ?  For  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  over  the  righteous, 
and  Ilis  ears  are  open  to  their  prayers.  But  if  ye  suffer 
for  righteousness'  sake,  happy  are  ye  ;  and  be  not  afraid 
of  those  who  try  to  terrify  you,  neither  be  troubled,  but 
sanctify  the  Lord  God  in  your  hearts.  Kem ember  that 
He  is  just  and  holy,  and  a  rewarder  of  all  who  diligently 
seek  Him.  Worship  Him  in  your  hearts,  and  all  will 
be  well.  For  says  David  again,  "  Lord,  who  shall  dwell 
in  Thy  tabernacle,  or  who  shall  rest  upon  Thy  holy  hill  ? 
Even  he  that  leadeth  an  un corrupt  life,  and  doeth  the 
thing  which  is  right,  and  speaketh  the  truth  from  his 
heart.      Whoso  doeth  these  things  shall  never  fall. 

Yes,  my  friends  ;  there  is  a  tabernacle  of  God  in  which, 
even  in  this  life.  He  will  hide  us  from  the  strife  of 
tongues.  There  is  a  hill  of  God  on  which,  even  in  the 
midst  of  labour  and  anxiety,  we  may  rest  both  day  and 
night.  Even  Jesus  Christ,  the  Rock  of  Ages, — He  who 
is  the  Righteousness  itself,  the  Truth  itself;  and  whoso- 
ever does  righteousness  and  speaks  truth  dwells  in  Christ 
in  this  life,  as  well  as  in  the  life  to  come  ;  and  Christ  will 
strengthen  him  by  His  Holy  Spirit  to  stand  in  the  evil 
day,  if  it  shall  come,  and  having  done  all,  to  stand. 
My  dear  friends,  if  any  of  you  are  minded  to  be  good 
men  and  women,  pray  for  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  First 
for  the  spirit  of  love  to  give  you  good  desires  ;  then  the 
spirit  of  faith,  to  make  you  believe  deeply  in  the  living 
God,  who  rewards  every  man  according  to  his  work  ;  and 
then  for  the  sj)irit  of  strength,  to  enable  you  to  bring 
these  desires  to  good  effect. 

Pray   for  that  spirit,   I   say ;  for   we   all   need   help. 


Courage.  1 69 

There  are  too  many  people  in  the  world — too  many,  per- 
haps, among  us  here — who  are  not  what  they  ought  to 
be,  and  what  they  really  wish  to  be,  because  they  are 
weak.  They  see  what  is  right,  and  admire  it  ;  but  they 
have  not  courage  Oi  determination  co  do  it.  Most  sad 
and  pitiable  it  is  to  see  how  much  weakness  of  heart 
there  is  in  the  world — how  little  true  moral  courage.  I 
suppose  that  the  reason  is,  that  there  is  so  little  faith ; 
that  people  do  not  believe  heartily  and  deeply  enough  in 
the  absolute  necessity  of  doing  right  and  being  honest. 
They  do  not  believe  heartily  and  deeply  enough  in  God 
to  trust  Him  to  defend  and  reward  them,  if  they  will  but 
be  true  to  Him,  and  to  themselves.  And  therefore  they 
have  no  moral  courage.  They  are  weak.  They  are 
kind,  perhaps,  and  easy ;  easily  led  right ;  but,  alas  ! 
just  as  easily  led  wrong.  Their  good  resolutions  are  not 
carried  out ;  their  right  doctrines  not  acted  up  to  ;  and 
they  live  pitiful,  confused,  useless,  inconsistent  lives ;  talk- 
ing about  religion,  and  yet  denying  the  power  of  religion 
in  their  daily  lives  ;  playing  with  holy  and  noble 
thoughts  and  feelings,  without  giving  themselves  up  to 
them  in  earnest,  to  be  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  to  do  all 
the  good  works  which  God  has  prepared  for  them  to  walk 
in.  Pray  all  of  you,  then,  for  the  spirit  of  faith,  to  believe 
really  in  God  ;  and  for  the  spirit  of  ghostly  strength,  to 
obey  God  honestly.  No  man  ever  asked  earnestly  for 
that  spirit  but  what  he  gained  it  at  last.  And  no  man 
ever  gained  it  but  what  he  found  the  truth  of  St  Peter's 
own  words,  '*  Who  will  harm  you  if  ye  be  followers  of 
that  which  ii?  gcv^/i  ?  '* 


SERMON    XIX. 

GOOD    DAYS. 

Eversley,  1867.     Westminster,  Sept.  27,  1872. 

1  Peter  iii.  8—12. 

*'  Be  ye  all  of  one  mind,  having  compassion  one  of  another,  love  aa 
brethren,  be  pitiful,  be  courteous  :  Not  rendering  evil  for  evil,  or 
railing  for  railing  :  but  contrariwise  blessing  ;  knowing  that  ye  are 
thereunto  called,  that  ye  should  inherit  a  blessing.  For  he  that 
will  love  life  and  see  good  days,  let  him  refrain  his  tongue  from 
evil,  and  his  lips  that  they  speak  no  guile  :  Let  him  eschew  evil, 
and  do  good  ;  let  him  seek  peace,  and  ensue  it.  For  the  eyes  of 
the  Lord  are  over  the  righteous,  and  His  ears  are  open  unto  their 
prayers  :  but  the  face  of  the  Lord  is  against  them  that  do  evil." 

This  is  one  of  the  texts  which  is  apt  to  puzzle  people 
who  do  not  read  their  Bibles  carefully  enough.  They 
cannot  see  what  the  latter  part  of  it  has  to  do  with  the 
former. 

St.  Peter  says  that  we  Christians  are  called  that  we 
should  inherit  a  blessing.  That  means,  of  course,  they 
say,  the  blessing  of  salvation,  everlasting  life  in  heaven. 
But  then  St.  Peter  quotes  from  the  34th  Psalm.  ''For 
he  that  will  love  life,  and  see  good  days,  let  him  refrain 
his  tongue  from  evil,  and  his  lips  that  they  speak  no 
guile."  Now  that  Psalm,  they  say,  speaks  of  blessing  and 
happiness  in  this  life.  Then  why  does  St.  Peter  give  it 
as  a  reason  for  expecting  blessing  and  happiness  in  the 
life  to  come  ?     And  then,  they  say,  to  make  it  fit  in.  it 


Good  Days.  \  7 1 

must  be  understood  spiritually  ;  and  what  tliey  mean 
by  that;  I  do  not  clearly  know. 

Their  notion  is,  that  the  promises  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment are  more  or  less  carnal,  because  they  speak  of 
God's  rewarding  men  in  this  life  ;  and  that  the  promises 
of  the  New  Testament  are  spiritual,  because  they  speak 
of  God's  rewarding  men  in  the  next  life  ;  and  what  they 
mean  by  that,  again,  I  do  not  clearly  know. 

For  is  not  the  Old  Testament  spiritual  as  well  as  the 
New  ?  I  trust  so,  my  friends.  Is  not  the  Old  Testa- 
ment inspired,  and  that'by  the  Spirit  of  God  ?  and  if  it 
be  inspired  by  the  Spirit,  what  can  it  be  but  spiritual  ? 
Therefore,  if  we  want  to  find  the  spiritual  meaning  of 
Old  Testament  promises,  we  need  not  to  alter  them  to 
suit  auy  fancies  of  our  own ;  like  those  monks  of  the 
fourth  and  succeeding  centuries,  who  saw  no  sanctity  in 
family  or  national  life  ;  no  sanctity  in  the  natural  world, 
and,  therefore,  were  forced  to  travesty  the  Hebrew  his- 
torians, psalmists,  and  prophets,  with  all  their  simple, 
healthy  objective  humanity,  and  politics,  and  poetry, 
into  metaphorical  and  subjective,  or,  as  they  miscalled 
them,  spiritual  meanings,  to  make  the  Old  Testament 
mean  anything  at  all.  No  ;  if  we  have  any  real  rever- 
ence for  the  Holy  Scriptures,  we  must  take  them  word 
for  word  in  their  plair.  meaning,  and  find  the  message  of 
God's  Spirit  in  that  plain  meaning,  instead  of  trying  to 
put  it  in  for  ourselves.  Therefore  it  is  that  the  VII. 
Article  bids  us  beware  of  playing  with  Scripture  in  this 
way.  It  says  the  Old  Testament  is  not  contrary  to  the 
New,  for  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament  everlast- 
ing life  is  offered  to  mankind  by  Christ.     Wherefore  they 


1 72  Good  Days. 

are  not  to  be  heard  who  feign  that  the  old  fathers  did 
look  only  for  transitory  promises,  that  is  temporary 
promises,  promises  which  would  be  fulfilled  only  in  this 
life,  and  end  and  pass  away  when  they  died. 

But  some  one  will  say,  how  can  that  be,  when  so 
many  of  the  old  Hebrews  seem  to  have  known  nothing 
about  the  next  life  ?  Moses,  for  instance,  always  pro- 
mises the  Children  of  Israel  that  if  they  do  right,  and 
obey  God,  they  shall  be  rewarded  in  this  life,  with  peace 
and  prosperity,  fruitfulness  and  wealth ;  but  of  their 
beino-  rewarded  in  the  next  life  he  never  says  one  word 

which  last  statement  is  undeniably  true. 

Is  not  then  the  Old  Testament  contrary  to  the  New, 
if  the   Old   Testament   teaches   men   to   look   for  their 
reward  in  this  life,  and  the  New  Testament  in  the  next? 
No,  it  is  not,  my  friends.    And  I  think  we  shall  see  that 
it  is  not,  and  why  it  is  not,  if  we  will  look  honestly  at 
this  very  important  text.      If  we  do  that  we  shall  see 
that    what    St.    Peter    meant — what   the   YII.    Article 
means  is  the  only  meaning  which   will  make  sense  of 
either  one  or  the  other ;  is  simply  this — that  what  causes 
a  man  to  enjoy  this  life,  is  the  same  that  will  cause 
him  to  enjoy  the  life  to  come.      That  what  will  bring 
a  blessing  on  him  in  this  life,  will  bring  a  blessing  on 
}iim  in  the  life  to  come.      That  what  blessed  the  old 
Jews,  will  bless  us  Christians.      That  if  we  refrain  our 
tpngue  from  evil,  and  our  lips  from  speaking  deceit ;   if 
we  avoid  evil  and  do  good  ;  if  we  seek  peace,  and  follow 
earnestly  after  it ;  then  shall  we  enjoy  life,  and  see  good 
days,  and  inherit  a  blessing  ;  whether  in  this  life  or  in 
the  life  to  come. 


Good  Days.  173 

And  why  ?  Because  then  we  shall  be  living  the  one 
and  only  everlasting  life  of  goodness,  which  alone  brings 
blessings  ;  alone  gives  good  days ;  and  is  the  only  life 
worth  living,  whether  in  earth  or  heaven. 

My  dear  friends,  lay  this  seriously  to  heart,  in  these 
days  especially,  when  people  and  preachers  alike  have 
taken  to  part  eai-th  and  heaven,  in  a  fashion  which  we 
never  find  in  Holy  Scripture.  Lay  it  to  heart,  I  say, 
and  believe  that  what  is  right,  and  therefore  good,  for 
the  next  life,  is  right,  and  therefore  good,  for  this. 
That  the  next  life  is  not  contrary  to  this  life.  That  the 
same  moral  laws  hold  good  in  heaven,  as  on  earth. 
Mark  this  well;  for  it  must  be  so,  if  morality,  that  is  right 
and  goodness,  is  of  the  eternal  and  immutable  essence  of 
God.  And  therefore,  mark  this  well  again,  there  is  but 
one  true,  real,  and  right  life  for  rational  beings,  one  only 
life  worth  living,  and  worth  living  in  this  world  or  in 
any  other  life,  past,  present,  or  to  come.  And  that  is 
the  eternal  life  which  was  before  all  worlds,  and  will  be 
after  all  are  passed  away — and  that  is  neither  more  noi 
less  than  a  good  life  ;  a  life  of  good  feelings,  good 
thoughts,  good  words,  good  deeds,  the  life  of  Christ 
and  of  God. 

It  is  needful,  I  say,  to  bear  this  in  mind  just  now. 
People  are,  as  I  told  you,  too  apt  to  say  that  the  Old 
Testament  saints  got  their  rewards  in  this  life,  while  we 
shall  get  them  in  the  next.  Do  they  find  that  in  Scrip- 
ture ?  If  they  will  read  their  Bible  they  will  find  that 
the  Old  Testament  saints  were  men  whom  God  was  train- 
ing and  educating,  as  He  does  us,  by  experience  and  by 
suffering.      That  David,  so  far  from  having  his  reward 


1 74  Good  Days. 

at  once  in  this  life,  had  his  bitter  sorrows  and  trials  ; 
that  Moses,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Job,  all,  indeed,  of  the  old 
prophets,  had  to  be  made  perfect  by  suffering,  and  (as 
St.  Paul  says)  died  in  faith  not  having  received  the  pro- 
mises. So  that  if  they  had  their  reward  in  this  life,  it 
must  have  been  a  spiritual  reward,  the  reward  of  a  good 
conscience,  and  of  the  favour  of  Almighty  God.  And 
that  is  no  transitory  or  passing  reward,  but  enduring  as 
immortality  itself.  But  people  do  not  usually  care  for  that 
spiritual  reward.  Their  notion  of  reward  and  happiness 
is  that  they  are  to  have  all  sorts  of  pleasures,  they  know 
not  what,  and  know  not  really  why.  And  because  they 
cannot  get  pleasant  things  enough  to  satisfy  them  in 
this  life,  they  look  forward  greedily  to  getting  them  in 
the  next  life;  and  meanwhile  are  discontented  with  God's 
Providence,  and  talk  of  God's  good  world  as  if  some  fiend 
and  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  the  maker  and  ruler 
thereof.  Do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  am  no  optimist. 
I  know  well  that  things  happen  in  this  world  which  must, 
which  ought  to  make  us  sad — so  sad  that  at  moments 
we  envy  the  dead,  who  are  gone  home  to  their  rest; 
real  tragedies,  real  griefs,  divine  and  Christlike  griefs, 
which  only  loving  hearts  know — the  suffering  of  those 
we  love,  the  loss  of  those  we  love,  and,  last  and  worst, 
the  sin  of  those  w^e  love.  Ah  !  if  any  of  those  swords 
have  pierced  the  heart  of  any  soul  here,  shall  I  blame 
that  man,  that  woman,  if  they  cry  at  times,  "  Father, 
take  me  home,  this  earth  is  no  place  for  me."  Shall  I 
bid  them  do  aught  but  cling  to  the  feet  of  Christ  and 
cry,  ''If  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me ; 
nevertheless,  not  as  I  will,  but  as  Thou  wilt."      Oh,  not 


Good  Days.  175 

of  such  do  I  speak  ;  not  of  such  sharers  of  Christ's  un- 
selfish suffering  here,  that  they  may  be  sharers  of  His 
unselfish  joy  hereafter.  Not  of  them  do  I  speak  ;  but  of 
those  who  only  wish  to  make  up  for  selfish  discomforts 
and  disappointments  in  this  life  by  selfish  comforts  and 
satisfaction  in  the  next ;  and  who  therefore  take  up  (let 
me  use  the  honest  English  word)  some  maundering 
form  of  religion,  which,  to  judge  from  their  own  con- 
duct, they  usually  only  half  believe  ;  those  who  seem, 
on  six  days  of  the  week,  as  fond  of  finery  and  frivolity 
as  any  other  gay  worldlings,  and  on  the  seventh  join 
eagerly  in  hymns  in  which  (in  one  case  at  least)  they 
inform  the  Almighty  God  of  truth,  who  will  not  be 
mocked,  that  they  lie  awake  at  night,  weeping  because 
they  cannot  die  and  see  "  Jerusalem  the  golden,"  and  so 
forth.  Or  those,  again,  who  for  six  days  in  the  week  are 
absorbed  in  making  money — honestly  if  they  can,  no 
doubt,  but  still  making  money,  and  living  luxuriously 
on  their  profits — and  on  the  seventh  listen  with  satis- 
faction to  preachers  and  hymns  which  tell  them  that 
this  world  is  all  a  howling  wilderness,  full  of  snares  and 
pitfalls  ;  and  that  in  this  wretched  place  the  Christian 
can  expect  nothing  but  tribulation  and  persecution  till 
he  "  crosses  Jordan,  and  is  landed  safe  on  Canaan's 
shore,"  and  so  forth. 

My  friends,  my  friends,  as  long  as  a  man  talks  so, 
blaspheming  God's  world — which,  wlien  He  made  it,  be- 
hold it  was  all  very  good — and  laying  the  blame  of 
their  own  ignorance  and  peevishness  on  God  Avho  made 
them,  they  must  expect  nothing  but  tribulation  and 
sorrow.     But  the  tribulation  and  the  sorrow  will  be  their 


176  Good  Days. 

own  fault,  and  not  God's.  If  religious  professors  will 
not  take  St.  Peter's  advice  and  the  Psalmist's  advice ;  if 
they  will  go  on  coveting  and  scheming  about  money, 
and  how  they  may  get  money  ;  if  they  will  go  on  being 
neither  pitiful,  courteous,  nor  forgiving,  and  hating  and 
maligning  whether  it  be  those  who  differ  from  them  in 
doctrine,  or  those  who  they  fancy  have  injured  them,  or 
those  who  merely  are  their  rivals  in  the  race  of  life  ; 
then  they  are  but  too  likely  to  find  this  world  a  thorny 
place,  because  they  themselves  raise  the  thorns ;  and  a 
disorderly  place,  because  their  own  tempers  and  desires 
are  disorderly ;  and  a  wilderness,  because  they  them- 
selves have  run  wild,  barbarians  at  heart,  however 
civilised  in  dress  and  outward  manners.  St.  James 
tells  them  that  of  old.  "  From  whence,"  he  says,  ''  come 
wars  and  quarrels  among  you  ?  Come  they  not  hence, 
even  of  the  lusts  which  war  in  your  members  ?  You 
long,  and  have  not.  You  fight  and  war,  yet  you  have 
not,  because  you  ask  not.  You  ask,  and  have  not. 
You  pray  for  this  and  that,  and  God  does  not  give  it 
you.  Because  you  ask  amiss,  selfishly  to  consume  it  on 
your  lusts."  And  then  you  say.  This  world  is  an  evil 
place,  full  of  temptations.  What  says  St.  James  to  that  ? 
"  Let  no  man  say  when  he  is  tempted,  I  am  tempted 
of  God  :  for  God  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil,  neither 
tempteth  He  any  man.  But  every  man  is  tempted, 
when  he  is  drawn  away  of  his  own  lust,  and  enticed." 

So  it  was  in  the  Old  Testament  times,  and  so  it  is  in 
these  Christian  times.  God  is  good,  and  God's  world  is 
good  ;  and  the  evil  is  not  in  the  world  around  us,  but  in 
our  own  foolish  hearts.      If  we  follow  our  own  foolish 


Good  Days.  177 

hearts,  we  shall  find  tliis  world  a  bad  place,  as  the  old 
Jews  found  it — whenever  they  went  wrong  and  sinned 
against  God — because  we  are  breaking  its  laws,  and  they 
will  punish  us.  If  we  follow  the  commandments  of  God, 
we  shall  find  this  world  a  good  place,  as  the  old  Jews 
found  it — whenever  they  went  right,  and  obeyed  God — 
because  we  shall  be  obeying  its  laws,  and  they  will  reward 
us.  This  is  God's  promise  alike  to  the  old  Jewish  fathers 
and  to  us  Christian  men.  And  this  is  no  transitory  or 
passing  promise,  but  is  founded  on  the  eternal  and  ever- 
lasting law  of  right,  by  which  God  has  made  all  worlds, 
and  which  He  Himself  cannot  alter,  for  it  springs  out  of 
His  own  essence  and  His  own  eternal  being.  Hear, 
then,  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter :  God  hath 
called  you  that  you  might  inherit  a  blessing. 

He  hath  made  you  of  a  blessed  race,  created  in  His 
own  likeness,  to  whom  He  hath  put  all  things  in 
subjection,  making  man  a  little  lower  than  the  angels, 
that  He  might  crown  him  with  glory  and  worship : 
a  race  so  precious  in  God's  eyes — we  know  not  why 
— that  when  mankind  had  fallen,  and  seemed  ready 
to  perish  from  their  own  sin  and  ignorance,  God  spared 
not  His  only  begotten  Son,  but  freely  gave  Him  for 
us,  that  the  world  by  Him  might  be  saved.  And  God 
hath  put  you  in  a  blessed  place,  even  His  wondrous  and 
fruitful  world,  which  praises  God  day  and  night,  fulfill- 
ing His  word  ;  for  it  continues  this  day  as  in  the  be- 
ginning, and  He  has  given  it  a  law  which  cannot  be 
broken.  He  has  made  you  citizens  of  a  blessed  king- 
dom, even  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  into  which  you  were 
baptised  ;   and  has  given  you   the  Holy  Bible,  that  you 

M 


I  yS  Good  Days. 

might  learn  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  and  live  for  ever^  * 

blessing  and  blest. 

And  the  Head  of  this  blessed  race,  the  Maker  of  this 
blessed  world,  the  King  of  this  blessed  kingdom,  is  the 
most  blessed  of  all  beings,  Jesus  Christ,  the  only-be- 
gotten Son,  both  God  and  man.  He  has  washed  you 
freely  from  your  sins  in  His  own  blood ;  He  has 
poured  out  on  you  freely  His  renewing  Spirit.  And 
He  asks  you  to  enter  into  your  inheritance  ;  that 
you  may  love  your  life,  and  see  good  days,  by  liv- 
ing the  blessed  life,  which  is  the  life  of  self-sacrifice. 
But  not  such  self-sacrifices  as  too  many  have  fancied 
who  did  not  believe  that  mankind  was  a  blessed  race, 
and  this  earth  a  blessed  place.  He  does  not  ask  you  to 
give  up  wife,  child,  property,  or  any  of  the  good  things 
of  this  life.  He  only  asks  you  to  give  up  that  selfish- 
ness which  will  prevent  you  enjoying  wife,  child,  or  pro- 
perty, or  anything  else  in  earth,  or  in  heaven  either. 
He  asks  you  not  to  give  up  anything  which  is  around 
you,  for  that  which  cometh  from  without  defileth  not 
a  man ;  but  to  give  up  something  which  is  within 
you,  for  that  which  cometh  from  within,  that  defileth  a 
man. 

He  asks  you  to  give  up  selfishness  and  all  the  evil 
tempers  which  that  selfishness  breeds.  To  give  up  the 
tongue  which  speaks  evil  of  your  fellowmen  ;  and  the 
lips  which  utter  deceit ;  and  the  brain  which  imagines 
cunning ;  and  the  heart  which  quarrels  with  your  neigh- 
bour. To  give  these  up  and  to  seek  peace,  and  pursue 
it  by  all  means  reasonable  or  honourable  ;  peace  with 
all  around  you,  which  comes  by  having  first  peace  with 


Good  Days,  1 79 

God ;  next,  peace  with  your  own  conscience.  This 
is  the  peace  which  passeth  understanding;  for  if 
you  have  it,  men  wil]  not  be  able  to  understand  why 
you  have  it.  Tliey  will  see  you  at  peace  when  men 
admire  you  and  praise  you,  and  at  peace  also  when  the} 
insult  you  and  injure  you  ;  at  peace  when  you  are  pros- 
perous and  thriving,  and  at  peace  also  when  you  are 
poor  and  desolate.  And  that  inward  peace  of  yours  will  ' 
pass  their  understanding  as  it  will  pass  your  own  under- 
standing also.  You  will  know  that  God  sends  you  the 
peace,  and  sends  it  you  the  more  the  more  you  pray  for 
it :  but  how  He  sends  it  you  will  not  understand  ;  for  it 
springs  out  of  those  inner  depths  of  your  being  which 
are  beyond  the  narrow  range  of  consciousness,  and  is 
spiritual  and  a  mystery,  and  comes  by  the  inspiration  of 
the  holy  Spirit  of  God. 

But  remember  that  all  your  prayers  will  not  get  that 
peace  if  your  heart  be  tainted  with  malice  and  selfish- 
ness and  covetousness,  falsehood  and  pride  and  vanity. 
You  must  ask  God  first  to  root  those  foul  seeds  out  of 
your  heart,  or  the  seed  of  His  Spirit  will  not  spring  up 
and  bear  fruit  in  you  to  the  everlasting  life  of  love  and 
peace  and  joy  in  the  holy  Spirit.  But  if  your  heart  be 
purged  and  cleansed  of  self,  then  indeed  will  the  holy 
Spirit  enter  in  and  dwell  there  ;  and  you  will  abide  in 
peace,  through  all  the  chances  and  changes  of  this  mortal 
life,  for  you  will  abide  in  God,  who  is  for  ever  at  peace. 
And  you  will  inherit  a  blessing ;  for  you  will  inherit 
Christ,  your  light  and  your  life,  who  is  blessed  for  ever. 
And  you  will  love  life ;  for  life  will  be  full  to  you  of 
hope,  of  work,  of  duty,  of  interest,  of  lessons  without 


I  So  Good  Days. 

number.  And  you  will  see  good  days ;  for  all  days  will 
seem  good  to  you,  even  those  which  seem  to  the  world 
bad  days  of  affliction  and  distress.  And  so  the  peace  of 
God  will  keep  you  in  Jesus  Christ,  ip  this  life,  and  in 
the  life  to  come.      Ameur 


SEKMON  XX. 

GUACE. 
Eversley.     1856. 

St.  Joh.^  i.  16,  17. 

**  Of  His  fulness  have  all  we  received,  and  grace  for  grace.    For  the  law 
was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ." 

I  WISH  you  to  mind  particularly  this  word  grace.  You 
meet  it  very  often  in  the  Bible.  You  hear  often  said, 
The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all. 
Now,  what  does  this  word  grace  mean  ?  It  is  really 
worth  your  while  to  know  ;  for  if  a  man  or  a  woman 
has  not  grace,  they  will  be  very  unhappy  people,  and 
very  disagreeable  people  also  ;  a  torment  to  themselves, 
and  a  torment  to  their  neighbours  also ;  and  if  they  live 
without  grace,  they  will  live  but  a  poor  life;  if  they  die 
without  grace,  they  will  come  to  a  very  bad  end  indeed. 
What,  then,  does  this  word  mean  ?  Some  of  you  will 
answer  that  grace  means  God's  Holy  Spirit,  or  that  it 
means  what  God  gives  to  our  souls  by  His  Spirit.  But 
what  does  that  mean  ?  What  does  God's  Spirit  give 
us  ?  What  is  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ  like,  and  how 
is  it  the  same  as  the  grace  of  God's  Spirit  ? 

Now,   to  know    what   grace  means,    we  must   know 
what  St  John  and  St  Paul  meant  by  it,  and  what  the 


1 82  Grace. 

word  meant  in  their  time,  and  what  the  Ephesians,  and 
Corinthians,  and  Romans,  to  whom  they  wrote,  would 
have  understood  by  this  word  grace. 

Now  these  heathens,  to  whom  the  apostles  preached, 
before  they  heard  the  sjospel,  knew  that  word  grace  very 
well  indeed,  often  used  it ;  and  saw  it  written  up  in 
their  heathen  temples  all  about  them.  And  they  meant 
by  it  just  what  we  mean,  when  we  talk  of  a  graceful 
person,  or  a  graceful  tree  or  flower;  and  what  we  mean, 
too,  when  we  say  that  any  one  is  gracious  ;  that  they 
do  things  gracefully,  and  have  a  great  deal  of  grace  in 
their  way  of  speaking  and  behaving.  We  mean  by  that 
that  they  are  handsome,  agreeable,  amiable,  pleasant  to 
look  at,  and  talk  to,  and  deal  with.  And  so  these 
heathens  meant,  before  they  were  Christians.  The 
Romans  used  to  talk  about  some  one  called  a  Grace. 
The  Greeks  called  her  Charis  ;  which  is  exactly  the  word 
which  St  John  and  St  Paul  use,  and  from  it  come  our 
words  charity  and  charitable.  But  more ;  they  used  to 
talk  of  three  Graces  :  they  fancied  that  they  were  god- 
desses— spirits  of  some  kind  in  the  shape  of  beautiful, 
and  amiable,  and  innocent  maidens,  who  took  delight 
in  going  about  the  world  and  making  people  happy  and 
amiable  like  themselves  ;  and  they  used  to  make  images 
of  these  graces,  and  pray  to  them  to  make  them  lovely, 
and  happy,  and  agreeable.  And  painters  and  statuaries, 
too,  used  to  pray  to  these  graces,  and  ask  them  to 
put  beautiful  fancies  into  their  minds,  that  they 
might  be  able  to  paint  beautiful  pictures,  and  carve 
beautiful  statues.  So  when  St  Paul  or  St  John  talked 
to    these    heathens    about    grace,    or    Charis    (as    the 


Grace.  183 

New   Testament   calls   it),  they  knew    quite   well  what 
the  apostles  meant. 

Did  the  apostles,  then,  believe  in  these  three  goddesses  ? 
Heaven  forbid.  They  came  to  teach  these  heathens  to 
turn  from  those  very  vanities,  and  worship  the  living 
God.  And  so  they  told  them, — You  are  quite  right 
in  thinking  that  grace  comes  from  heaven,  and  is  God's 
gift  ;  that  it  is  God  who  makes  people  amiable,  cheer- 
ful, lovely,  and  honourable  ;  that  it  is  God  who  gives 
happiness  and  all  the  joys  of  life  :  but  which  god  ? 
Not  those  three  maidens  ;  they  are  but  a  dream  and 
fancy.  All  that  is  lovely  and  pleasant  in  men  and 
women — and  our  life  here,  and  our  everlasting  life  after 
death,  in  this  world  and  in  all  worlds  to  come — all 
comes  from  Jesus  Christ  and  from  Him  alone.  God  has 
gathered  together  all  things  in  Him,  whether  things  in 
heaven  or  things  on  earth  ;  and  He  bestows  blessings 
and  graces  on  all  who  will  ask  Him,  to  each  as  much  as 
is  good  for  him.  He  is  full  of  grace — more  full  of  it 
than  all  the  human  beings  in  the  world  put  together. 
All  the  goodness  and  sweetness,  and  all  the  graciousness 
which  you  ever  saw  in  all  the  men  and  women  whom 
you  ever  met ;  all  the  goodness  and  sweetness  which  you 
ever  fancied  for  yourselves,  all  put  together  is  not  to  be 
compared  to  Him.  For  He  is  the  perfect  brightness  of 
God's  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  God's  person  ;  and 
in  Him  is  gathered  together  all  grace,  all  goodness,  all 
which  makes  men  or  angels  good,  and  lovely,  and  loving, 
All  is  in  Him,  and  He  gives  it  freely  to  all,  said  the 
apostles ;  we  knov/  that  He  speaks  truth,  we  have  seen 
Him  ;  our  eyes  saw  Him,  our  hands  touched  Him,  and 


y 


184  Grace. 

there  was  a  glory  about  Him  such  as  there  never  could 
be  about  any  other  person.  A  glory  as  of  the  only  be- 
gotten of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth.  A  person 
whom  we  could  not  help  loving ;  could  not  help  admir- 
ing ;  could  not  help  trusting ;  could  not  help  giving  our- 
selves up  to — to  live  for  Him,  and  if  need  be,  die  for 
Him. 

And,  said  the  apostles,  there  was  a  grace  of  truth  in 
another  of  your  heathen  fancies.  You  thought  that 
these  goddesses,  because  they  were  amiable  and  inno- 
cent themselves,  liked  to  make  every  one  amiable,  inno- 
cent, and  happy  also.  Your  conscience,  your  reason  were 
right  there.  That  is  the  very  nature  of  grace,  not  to 
keep  itself  to  itself,  but  to  spend  itself  on  every  one 
round  it,  and  try  to  make  every  one  like  itself  If  a 
man  be  good,  he  will  long  to  make  others  good  ;  if 
tender,  he  will  long  to  make  others  tender  ;  if  gentle,  he 
will  long  to  make  others  gentle  ;  if  cheerful,  he  will  long 
to  make  others  cheerful;  if  forgiving,  he  will  long  to  make 
others  forgiving  ;  if  happy,  he  will  long  to  make  others 
happy.  Then  said  the  apostles,  only  believe  that  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  just  because  He  is  full  of  grace,  wishes  to 
fill  you  with  grace,  ten  thousand  times  better  grace  than 
you  ever  fancied  those  false  goddesses  could  give  you — 
of  His  fulness  you  may  all  receive,  and  grace  for  grace. 
All  the  grace  of  this  world  comes  from  Him — health,  and 
youth,  and  happiness,  and  all  the  innocent  pleasures  of 
life,  and  He  delights  in  giving  you  them.  But,  over  and 
above  that,  comes  a  deeper  and  nobler  grace — spiritual 
grace,  the  grace  of  the  immortal  soul,  which  will  last  on, 
and  make  you   loving  and  loveable,  pure  and  true,  gra- 


Grace.  185 

cious  and  generous,  honourable  and  worthy  of  respect, 
when  the  grace  of  the  body  is  gone,  and  the  eye  is 
grown  dim,  and  the  hair  is  grey,  and  the  limbs  feeble  ; 
a  grace  which  will  make  you  gracious  in  old  age,  graci- 
ous in  death,  gracious  for  ever  and  ever,  after  the  body 
has  crumbled  again  to  its  dast.  Whatsoever  things  are 
honourable,  lovely,  and  of  good  report  ;  whatsoever 
tempers  of  mind  make  you  a  comfort  to  yourselves  and 
all  around  you ;  Christ  has  them  all,  and  He  can  give 
you  them  all,  one  after  the  other,  till  Christ  be  formed 
in  you,  till  you  come  to  be  perfect  men  and  women,  to 
the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ. 
Come,  then,  boldly  to  His  throne  of  grace,  to  find 
mercy,  and  grace  to  help  you  in  the  time  of  need. 

This  was  what  the  apostles  taught  the  heathen,  and 
their  words  were  true.  You  may  see  them  come  true 
round  you  every  day.  For,  my  friends,  just  as  far  as 
people  pray  for  Christ's  grace,  and  give  themselves  up 
to  be  led  by  God's  Spirit,  they  become  full  of  grace 
themselves,  courteous  and  civil,  loving  and  amiable,  true 
and  honourable — a  pleasure  to  themselves  and  to  all 
round  them.  While,  on  the  other  hand  ;  all  rudeness, 
all  ill-temper,  all  selfishness,  all  greediness  are  just  so 
many  sins  against  the  grace  of  Christ,  which  grieve  the 
Spirit  of  God,  at  the  same  time  that  they  grieve  our 
neighbours  for  whom  Christ  died,  and  cut  us  off,  as  long 
as  we  give  way  to  them,  from  the  communion  of  saints. 

Well  would  it  be  for  married  people,  if  they  would 
but  remember  this.  Well  for  them,  for  their  own  sake 
and  for  their  children's.  ''Heirs  together,"  St  Peter  says 
they  are,  "  of  the  grace  of  life."      Think  of  those  words  ; 


1 86  Grace. 

for  in  them  lies  the  true  secret  of  happiness.  Not  in  the 
mere  grace  of  youth,  which  pleases  the  fancy  at  first ; 
that  must  soon  fade  ;  and  then  comes,  too  often,  coldness 
between  man  and  wife ;  neglect,  rudeness,  ill-temper, 
because  the  grace  of  life  is  not  there — the  grace  of  the 
inner  life,  of  the  immortal  soul,  which  alone  makes  life 
pleasant,  even  tolerable,  to  two  people  who  are  bound 
together  for  better  or  for  worse.  But  yet,  unless  St 
Peter  be  mistaken,  the  fault  in  such  sad  case  is  on  the 
man's  side.  Yes,  we  must  face  that  truth,  we  men;  and 
face  it  like  men.  If  we  are  unhappy  in  our  marriage 
it  is  our  own  fault.  It  is  the  woman  who  is  the  weaker, 
says  St  Peter,  and  selfish  men  are  apt  to  say,  ''  Then  it 
is  the  woman's  fault,  if  we  are  not  happy."  St  Peter 
says  exactly  the  opposite.  He  says, — Because  she  is  the 
weaker  you  are  the  stronger ;  and  therefore  it  is  your 
fault  if  she  is  not  what  she  should  be  ;  for  you  are  able 
to  help  her,  and  lead  her  ;  you  took  her  to  your  heart 
for  that  very  purpose,  you  swore  to  cherish  her. 
Because  she  is  the  weaker,  you  can  teach  her,  help 
her,  improve  her  character,  if  you  will.  You  have 
more  knowledge  of  life  and  the  world  than  she  has. 
Dwell  with  her  according  to  knowledge,  says  St  Peter; 
use  your  experience  to  set  her  right  if  she  be  wrong  ; 
and  use  your  experience  and  your  strength,  too,  to  keep 
down  your  own  temper  and  your  own  selfishness  toward 
her,  to  bear  and  forbear,  to  give  and  forgive,  live  and 
let  live.  Remember  that  you  are  heirs  together  of  the 
grace  of  life ;  and  if  the  grace  of  life  is  not  in  you,  you 
cannot  expect  it  to  be  in  her.  And  what  is  the  grace  of 
life  ?     It  must  be  the  grace  of  Christ.      St  John  says 


Grace.  1 8  7 

that  Christ  is  the  Life.  And  what  is  the  grace  of 
Christ  ?  Christ's  grace,  Christ's  gi^acefulness,  Christ's 
beautiful  and  noble  and  loving  character — the  grace  of 
Christ  is  Christ's  likeness.  Do  you  ask  what  will 
Christ  give  me  ?  He  will  give  you  Himself.  He  will 
make  you  like  Himself,  partaker  of  His  grace ;  and 
what  is  that  ?  It  is  this — to  be  loving,  gentle, 
temperate,  courteous,  condescending,  self-sacrificing. 
Giving  honour  to  those  who  are  weaker  than  yourself, 
just  because  they  are  weaker;  ready  and  willing,  ay, 
and  counting  it  an  honour  to  take  trouble  for  other 
people,  to  be  of  use  to  other  people,  to  give  way  to 
other  people  ;  and,  above  all,  to  the  woman  who  has 
given  herself  to  you,  body  and  soul.  That  is  the  grace 
of  Christ ;  that  is  the  grace  of  life ;  that  is  what  makes 
life  worth  having :  ay,  makes  it  a  foretaste  of  heaven 
upon  earth  ;  when  man  and  wife  are  heirs  together  of 
the  grace  of  life,  of  all  those  tempers  which  make  life 
graceful  and  pleasant,  giving  way  to  each  other  in 
everything  which  is  not  wrong ;  studying  each  other's 
comfort,  taking  each  other  s  advice,  shutting  their  eyes  to 
each  other's  little  failings,  and  correcting  each  other's  great 
failings,  not  by  harsh  words,  but  silently  and  kindly,  by 
example.  And  if  the  man  will  do  that,  there  is  little 
fear  but  that  the  woman  will  do  it  also.  And  so,  their 
prayers  are  not  hindered. 

Married  people  cannot  pray,  they  have  no  heart  to 
pray,  while  they  are  discontented  with  each  other.  They 
feel  themselves  wrong,  and  because  they  are  parted  from 
each  other,  they  feel  parted  from  God  too ;  and  their 
selfishness  or  anger    rises  as  a  black   wall,   not  merely 


1 88  Grace. 

between  them,  but  between  each  of  them  and  God 
And  so  the  grace  of  life  is  indeed  gone  away  from  them, 
and  the  whole  world  looks  dark  and  ugly  to  them,  be- 
cause it  is  not  bright  and  cheerful  in  the  light  of  Christ's 
grace,  which  makes  all  the  world  full  of  sunshine  and 
joy.  But  it  need  not  be  so,  friends.  It  would  not  be  so, 
if  married  people  would  take  the  advice  which  the 
Prayer  Book  gives  them,  and  come  to  Holy  communion. 
Would  to  God,  my  friends,  that  all  married  people 
would  understand  what  that  Holy  communion  says  to 
them  ;  and  come  together  Sunday  after  Sunday  to  that 
throne  of  grace,  there  to  receive  of  Christ's  fulness,  and 
grace  upon  grace.  For  that  Table  says  to  you  :  You 
are  heirs  together  of  the  grace  of  life  ;  you  are  not 
meant  merely  to  feed  together  for  a  few  short  years,  at 
the  same  table,  on  the  bread  which  perishes,  but  to 
feed  for  ever  together  on  the  bread  which  comes  down 
from  heaven,  even  on  Christ  Himself,  the  life  of  the 
world  ;  to  receive  life  from  His  life,  that  you  may  live 
together  such  a  life  as  He  lived,  and  lives  still ;  to 
receive  grace  from  the  fulness  of  His  grace,  that  you 
may  be  full  of  grace  as  He  is.  That  Table  tells  you 
that  because  you  both  must  live  by  the  same  life  of 
Christ,  you  must  live  the  same  life  as  each  other, 
and  grow  more  and  more  like  each  other  year  by  year ; 
that  as  you  both  receive  the  same  grace  of  Christ,  you 
will  become  more  and  more  gracious  to  each  other  year 
by  year,  and  both  grow  together,  nearer  and  dearer  to 
each  other,  more  worthy  of  each  other's  respect,  more 
worthy  of  each  other's  trust,  more  worthy  of  each 
other's  love.      And  then  ''  till  death  us  do  part  "  may 


Grace.  1 89 

mean  what  it  will.  Let  death  part  what  of  them  he 
can  part,  the  perishing  mortal  body  ;  he  has  no  power 
over  the  soul,  or  over  the  body  which  shall  rise  to  life 
eternal.  Let  death  do  his  worst.  They  belong  to 
Christ  who  conquered  death,  and  they  live  by  His 
everlasting  life,  and  their  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God, 
where  death  cainiot  reach  it  or  find  it :  and  therefore 
their  life  and  their  love,  and  the  grace  of  it,  will  last  as 
long  as  Christ's  life  and  Christ's  love,  and  Christ's 
grace  last — and  that  will  be  for  ever  and  ever. 


SERMON  XTT. 

FATHER     AND     CHILD. 
Eversley.     1861. 

1  Cor.  i.  4,  5,  7. 

"I  thank  my  God  always  on  your  behalf,  for  the  grace  of  God  which 
is  given  you  by  Jesus  Christ.  That  in  every  thing  ye  are  enriched 
by  Him,  in  all  utterance,  and  in  all  knowledge.  ...  So  that  ye 
come  behind  in  no  gift  ;  waiting  for  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  AVho  shall  also  confirm  you  unto  the  end,  that  ye  may  be 
blameless  in  the  day  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

This  text  is  a  very  important  one.  It  ought  to 
teach  me  how  I  should  treat  you.  It  ought  to  teach 
you  how  you  should  treat  your  children.  It  ought  to 
teach  you  how  God,  your  heavenly  Father,  treats  you. 
You  see  at  the  first  glance  how  cheerful  and  hopeful  St 
Paul  is  about  these  Corinthians.  He  is  always  thanking 
God,  he  says,  about  them,  for  the  grace  of  God  which 
was  given  them  by  Jesus  Christ,  that  in  everything 
they  were  enriched  by  Him,  in  all  utterance  and  in  all 
knowledge.  And  he  has  good  hope  for  them.  Nay, 
he  seems  to  be  certain  about  them,  that  they  will 
persevere,  and  conquer,  and  be  saved  ;  for  Christ  Him- 
self will  confirm  them  (that  is  strengthen  them)  to  the 
end,  that  they  may  be  blameless  in  the  way  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

If  we  knew  no  more  of  these  Corinthians  than  what 


Father  and  Child,  191 

these  words  tell  us,  we  should  suppose  that  they  were 
very  great  saints,  leading  holy  and  irreproachable  lives 
before  God  and  man.  But  we  know  that  it  was  not  so. 
That  they  were  going  on  very  ill.  That  this  is  the 
beginning  of  an  epistle  in  which  St  Paul  is  going  to 
rebuke  them  very  severely ;  and  to  tell  them,  that  unless 
they  mend,  they  will  surely  become  reprobates,  and  be 
lost  after  all.  He  is  going  to  rebuke  them  for  having 
heresies  among  them,  that  is  religious  parties  and  reli- 
gious quarrels — very  much  as  we  have  now  ;  for  being 
puffed  up  with  spiritual  self-conceit;  for  despising  and 
disparaging  him  ;  for  loose  lives,  allowing  (in  one  case) 
such  a  crime  among  them  as  even  the  heathen  did  not 
allow;  for  profaning  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  such  an  extent 
that  some  seem  even  to  have  got  drunk  at  it ;  for  want  of 
charity  to  each  other  ;  for  indulging  in  fanatical  excite- 
ment ;  for  denying,  some  of  them,  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead  ;  on  the  whole,  for  being  in  so  unwholesome  a 
state  of  mind  that  he  has  to  warn  them  solemnly  of  the 
fearful  example  of  the  old  Israelites,  who  perished  in 
the  wilderness  for  their  sins — as  they  will  perish,  he 
hints,  unless  they  mend. 

And  yet  he  begins  by  thanking  God  for  them,  by 
speaking  of  them,  and  to  them,  in  this  cheerful  and 
hopeful  tone. 

Does  that  seem  strange  ?  Why  should  it  seem 
strange,  my  friends,  to  us,  if  we  are  in  the  habit  of 
training  our  children,  and  rebuking  our  children,  as  we 
ought  ?  If  we  have  to  rebuke  our  children  for  doing 
wrong,  do  we  begin  by  trying  to  break  their  hearts  ?  by 
raking  up  old  offences,  by  reproaching  them  with  all  the 


192  Father  and  Child. 

wrong  they  ever  did  in  their  lives,  and  giving  them  to 
understand  that  they  are  thoroughly  bad,  and  have 
altogether  lost  our  love,  so  that  we  will  have  nothing 
more  to  do  with  them  unless  they  mend  ?  Or  do  we 
begin  by  making  them  feel  that  however  grieved  we  are 
with  them,  we  love  them  still ;  that  however  wrong  they 
have  been,  there  is  right  feeling  left  in  them  still ;  and 
by  giving  them  credit  for  whatever  good  there  is  in 
them — by  appealing  to  that ;  calling  on  them  to  act  up 
to  that ;  to  be  true  to  themselves,  and  to  their  better 
nature ;  saying,  You  can  do  right  in  one  thing — then  do 
right  in  another — and  do  right  in  all  ?  If  we  do  not  do 
this  we  do  wrong ;  we  destroy  our  children's  self-respect, 
we  make  them  despair  of  improving,  we  make  them  fancy 
themselves  bad  children  :  that  is  the  very  surest  plan 
we  can  take  to  make  them  bad  children,  by  making 
them  reckless. 

But  if  we  be  wise  parents — such  parents  to  our  chil- 
dren as  St  Paul  was  to  his  spiritual  children,  the  Corin- 
thians— we  shall  do  by  them  just  what  St  Paul  did  by 
these  Corinthians.  Before  he  says  one  harsh  word  to 
them,  he  will  awaken  in  them  faith  and  love.  He  will 
make  them  trust  him  and  love  him,  all  the  more  because 
he  knows  that  through  false  teaching  they  do  not  trust 
and  love  him  as  they  used  to  do.  But  till  they  do,  he 
knows  that  there  is  no  use  in  rebuking  them.  Till  they 
trust  him  and  love  him,  they  will  not  listen  to  him. 
And  how  does  he  try  to  bring  them  round  to  him  ?  By 
praising  them  : — by  telling  them  that  he  trusts  them  and 
loves  them,  because  in  spite  of  all  their  faults  there  is 
something  in  them  worthy  to  be  loved  and  trusted.     He 


Father  and  Child.  193 

begins  by  giving  them  credit  for  whatever  good  there  is 
in  them.  They  are  rich  in  all  utterance  and  all  know- 
ledge ;  that  is,  they  are  very  brilliant  and  eloquent 
talkers  about  spiritual  things,  and  also  very  deep  and 
subtle  thinkers  about  spiritual  things.  So  far  so  good. 
These  are  great  gifts — gifts  of  Christ,  too, — tokens  that 
God's  spirit  is  with  them,  and  that  all  they  need  is  to  be 
true  to  His  gracious  inspirations.  Then,  when  he  has 
told  them  that,  or  rather  made  them  understand  that 
he  knows  that,  and  is  delighted  at  it,  then  he  can  go  on 
safely  and  boldly  to  tell  them  of  their  sins  also  in  the 
plainest  and  sternest  and  yet  the  most  tender  and  fatherly 
language. 

This  is  very  important,  my  friends.  I  cannot  tell  you 
fully  how  important  I  think  it,  in  more  ways  than  one. 
I  am  sure  that  if  we  took  St  Paul's  method  with  our 
children  we  should  succeed  with  them  far  better  than  we 
do.  And  I  think,  I  have  thought  long,  that  if  we  could 
see  that  St  Paul's  method  with  those  Corinthians  was 
actually  the  same  as  God's  method  with  us,  we  should 
have  far  truer  notions  of  God,  and  God's  dealings  with  us; 
and  should  reverence  and  value  far  more  that  Holy 
Catholic  Church  into  which  we  have  been,  by  God's 
infinite  mercy,  baptized,  and  wherein  we  have  been 
educated. 

For,  and  now  I  entreat  you  to  listen  to  me  carefully, 
you  who  have  sound  heads  and  earnest  hearts,  ready  and 
willing  to  know  the  truth  about  God  and  yourselves,  if 
St  Paul  looked  at  the  Corinthians  in  this  light,  may  not 
God  have  looked  at  them  in  the  same  light  ?  If  St  Paul 
accepted  them  for   the  sake  of  the  good  which  was  in 

N 


194  Father  and  Child. 

them,  in  spite  of  all  their  faults,  may  not  God  have  ac- 
cepted them  for  the  sake  of  the  good  which  was  in  them, 
in  spite  of  all  their  faults  ?  and  may  not  He  accept  us 
likewise  ?  I  think  it  must  be  so.  For  was  not  St  Paul 
an  inspired  apostle  ?  and  are  not  these  words  of  his  in- 
spired by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  ?  But  if  so,  then  the 
Spirit  of  God  must  have  looked  at  these  Corinthians  in 
the  same  light  as  St  Paul,  and  therefore  God  must  do 
likewise,  because  the  Holy  Spirit  is  God.  Must  it  not 
be  so  ?  Can  we  suppose  that  God  would  take  one  view 
of  these  Corinthians,  and  then  inspire  St  Paul  to  take 
another  view  ?  What  does  being  inspired  mean  at  all, 
save  having  the  mind  of  Christ  and  of  God, — being 
taught  to  see  men  and  things  as  God  sees  them,  to  feel 
for  them  and  think  of  them  as  God  does  ?  If  inspiration 
does  not  mean  that,  what  does  it  mean  ?  Therefore,  I 
think,  we  have  a  right  to  believe  that  St  Paul's  words 
express  the  mind  of  God  concerning  these  Corinthians ; 
that  God  was  pleased  with  their  utterance  and  their 
knowledge,  and  accepted  them  for  that ;  and  that  in  the 
same  way  God  is  pleased  with  whatsoever  He  sees  good 
in  us,  and  accepts  us  for  that.  But,  remember,  not  for 
our  own  works  or  deservings  an}^  more  than  these 
Corinthians.  They  were,  and  we  are  accepted  in  Christ, 
and  for  the  merits  of  Christ.  And  any  good  points  in 
us,  or  in  these  Corinthians,  as  St  Paul  says  expressly 
(here  and  elsewhere),  are  not  our  own,  but  come  from 
Christ,  by  the  inspiration  of  His  Holy  Spirit. 

I  know  many  people  do  not  think  thus.  They  think 
of  God  as  looking  only  at  our  faults;  as  extreme  to  mark 
what  is  done  amiss ;  as  never  content  with  us  ;  as  always 


Father  and  Child.  195 

crying  to  men,  Yes,  you  have  done  this  and  that  well, 
and  yet  not  quite  well,  for  even  in  what  you  have  done 
there  are  blots  and  mistakes ;  but  this  and  that  you  have 
not  done,  and  therefore  you  are  still  guilty,  still  under 
infinite  displeasure.  And  they  think  that  they  exalt 
God's  holiness  by  such  thoughts,  and  magnify  His  hatred 
of  sin  thereby.  And  they  invent  arguments  to  prove 
themselves  right,  such  as  this  :  That  because  God  is  an 
infinite  being,  every  sin  committed  against  Him  is  infinite ; 
and  therefore  deserves  an  infinite  punishment;  which. is 
a  juggle  of  words  of  which  any  educated  man  ought  to 
be  ashamed. 

I  do  not  know  where,  in  the  Bible,  they  find  all  this. 
Certainly  not  in  the  writings  of  St  Paul.  They  seem  to 
me  to  find  it,  not  in  the  Bible  at  all,  but  in  their  own 
hearts,  judging  that  God  must  be  as  hard  upon  His  chil- 
dren as  they  are  apt  to  be  upon  their  own.  I  know  that 
God  is  never  content  with  us,  or  with  any  man.  How 
can  He  be  ?  But  in  what  sense  is  He  not  content  ?  In 
the  sense  in  which  a  hard  task-master  is  not  content  with 
his  slave,  when  he  flogs  him  cruelly  for  the  slightest 
fault  ?  Or  in  the  sense  in  which  a  loving  father  is  not 
content  with  his  child,  grieving  over  him,  counselling 
him,  as  long  as  he  sees  him,  even  in  the  slightest  matter, 
doing  less  well  than  he  might  do  ?  Think  of  that,  and 
when  you  have  thought  of  it,  believe  that  in  this  grand 
text  St  Paul  speaks  really  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  ac- 
cording to  the  mind  of  God,  and  teaches  not  these  old 
Corinthians  merely,  but  you  and  your  children  after  you, 
what  is  the  mind  of  God  concerning  you,  what  is  the 
light  in  which  God  looks  upon  you.    For,  if  you  will  but 


196  Father  and  Child, 

think  over  your  own  lives,  and  over  the  Catechism  which 
you  learned  in  your  youth,  has  not  God's  way  of  dealing 
with  you  been  just  the  same  as  St  Paul's  with  those 
Corinthians,  teaching  you  to  love  and  trust  Him  almost 
before  He  taught  you  the  difference  between  right  aod 
wrong  ?  I  know  that  some  think  otherwise.  Many  who 
do  not  belong  to  the  Church,  and  many,  alas  !  who  pro- 
fess to  belong  to  the  Church,  will  tell  you  that  God's 
method  is,  first  to  terrify  men  by  the  threats  of  the  law 
and  the  sight  of  their  sins  and  the  fear  of  damnation,  and 
afterwards  to  reveal  to  them  the  gospel  and  His  mercy 
and  salvation  in  Christ.  Now  I  can  only  answer  that  it 
is  not  so.  Not  so  in  fact.  These  preachers  themselves 
may  do  it ;  but  that  is  no  proof  that  God  does  it.  What 
God's  plan  is  can  only  be  known  from  facts,  from  experi- 
ence, from  what  actually  happens;  first  in  God's  kingdom 
of  nature,  and  next  in  God's  kingdom  of  grace,  which  is 
the  Church.  And  in  the  kingdom  of  nature  how  does 
God  begin  with  mankind  ?  What  are  a  child's  first  im- 
pressions of  this  life  ?  Does  he  hear  voices  from  heaven 
telling  little  children  that  they  are  lost  sinners  ?  Does 
he  see  lightning  come  from  heaven  to  strike  sinners  dead, 
or  earthquakes  rise  and  swallow  them  up  ?  Nothing  of 
the  kind.  A  child's  first  impressions  of  this  life,  what 
are  they  but  pleasure  ?  His  mother's  breast,  warmth, 
light,  food,  play,  flowers,  and  all  pleasant  things, — by 
these  God  educates  the  child,  even  of  the  heathen  and 
the  savage  : — and  why  ?  If  haply  he  may  feel  after 
God  and  find  Him,  and  find  that  He  is  a  God  of  love 
and  merc}^,  a  giver  of  good  things,  who  knows  men's 
necessities  before   they   ask, — a  good   and  loving  God, 


Father  and  Child.  197 

and    not    a    being    such    as    I    will    not,    I    dare    not 
speak  of. 

I  say  with  the  very  heathen  God  deals  thus.  We  have 
plain  Scripture  for  that.  For  we  have,  and  thanks  be  to 
God  that  we  have,  in  such  times  as  these,  a  missionary 
sermon  preached  by  St  Paul  to  the  heathen  at  Lystra. 
And  in  that  is  not  one  word  concerning  these  terrors  of 
the  law.  He  says,  I  preach  to  you  God,  whom  you 
ought  to  have  known  of  yourselves,  because  He  has  not 
left  Himself  without  witness.  And  what  is  this  witness 
of  which  the  apostle  speaks  ?  Wrath  and  terror  and 
destruction  ?  Not  so,  says  St  Paul.  This  is  His  wit- 
ness, that  He  has  sent  you  rain  and  fruitful  seasons, 
fining  your  heart  with  food  and  gladness.  His  goodness. 
His  bounty, — it  is  the  witness  of  God  and  of  the  character 
of  God.  There  is  wrath  and  terror  enough,  says  St  Paul 
elsewhere,  awaiting  those  who  go  on  in  sin.  But  then 
what  does  he  say  is  their  sin  ?  Despising  the  goodness 
of  God,  by  which  He  has  been  trying  to  win  mankind  to 
love  and  trust  Him,  before  He  threatens  and  before  He 
punishes  at  all.  So  much  for  the  terrors  of  the  law  com- 
ing before  the  good  news  of  the  gospel  in  God's  kingdom 
of  nature. 

And  still  less  do  the  terrors  of  the  law  come  first  in 
God's  kingdom  of  grace,  which  is  the  Church.  They  did 
not  come  first  to  you  or  to  rae,  or  to  any  one  in  His 
Church  who  has  been  taught,  as  churchmen  should  be, 
their  Catechism.  If  any  have  been,  unhappily  for  them 
brought  up  to  learn  Catechisms  and  hymns  which  do  not 
belong  to  the  Church,  and  which  terrify  little  children 
with  horrible  notions  of  God's  wrath,  and  the  torments 


^ 


198  Father  and  Child. 

prepared  Dot  merely  for  wicked  men,  but  for  unconverted 
children,  and  then  teach  them  to  say, — 

"  Can  such  a  wretch,  as  I 
Escape  this  di-eadf ul  end  ?  ^ 

SO  much  the  worse  for  them.  We,  who  are  Church 
people,,  are  bound  to  believe  that  God  speaks  to  us  through 
the  Church  books,  and  that  it  was  His  will  that  we  should 
have  been  brought  up  to  believe  the  Catechism.  And 
in  that  Catechism  we  heard  not  one  word  of  these  terrors  of 
the  law  or  of  God's  wrath  hanging  over  us.  We  were  taught 
that  before  we  even  knew  right  from  wrong,  God  adopted 
us  freely  as  His  children,  freely  forgave  us  our  original 
sin  for  the  sake  of  Christ's  blood,  freely  renewed  us  by  His 
Holy  Spirit,  freely  placed  us  in  His  Church  ; — that  we 
might  love  Him,  because  He  first  loved  us ;  trust  Him 
because  He  has  done  all  that  even  God  could  do  to  win 
our  trust ;  and  obey  Him,  because  we  are  boundlessly 
in  debt  to  Him  for  boundless  mercies.  This  is  God's 
method  with  us  in  His  Church,  and  what  is  it  but  St 
Paul's  method  with  these  Corinthians  ? 

Believe  this,  then,  you  who  wish  to  be  Churchmen  in 
spirit  and  in  truth.  Believe  that  St  Paul's  conduct  is 
to  you  a  type  and  pattern  of  what  God  does,  and  what 
you  ought  to  do.  That  God's  method  of  winning  you  to  do 
right  is  to  make  you  love  Him  and  trust  Him  ;  and  that 
your  method  of  winning  your  children  to  do  right  is  to 
make  them  love  and  trust  you.  Let  us  remember  that 
if  our  children  are  not  perfect,  they  at  least  inherited 
their  imperfections  from  us  ;  and  if  our  Father  in  heaven, 
from  whom    we    inherit    no    sin,    but    only  good,    have 


Father  and  Child,  1 99 

patience  with  us,  shall  we  not  have  patience  with  our 
children,  who  owe  to  us  their  fallen  nature  ? 

Ah  !  cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters, — the  bread 
which  even  the  poorest  can  give  to  their  children  abun- 
dantly and  without  stint, — the  bread  of  charity, — human 
tenderness,  forbearance,  hopefulness, — cast  that  bread 
upon  the  wa'^ers,  and  thou  shalt  find  it  after  many  days. 


SERMON    XXII. 

GOD    IS    OUR    REFUGE. 

Westminster  Ahhey,  1873. 

Psalm  xlvi.  1. 
'*  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble.** 

This  is  a  noble  psalm,  full  of  hope  and  comfort  ;  and  it 
will  be  more  and  more  full  of  hope  and  comfort,  the 
more  faithfully  we  believe  in  the  incarnation,  the  pas- 
sion, the  resurrection,  and  the  ascension  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  For  if  we  are  to  give  credit  to  His  express 
words,  and  to  those  of  every  book  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  to  the  opinion  of  that  Church  into  which  we  are 
baptised,  then  Jesus  Christ  is  none  other  than  the  same 
Jehovah,  Lord,  and  God  who  brought  the  Jews  out  of 
Egypt,  who  guided  them  and  governed  them  through  all 
their  history — teaching,  judging,  rewarding,  punishing 
them  and  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  This  psalm, 
therefore,  is  concerning  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom 
all  power  is  given  in  heaven  and  earth,  and  who  ascended 
up  on  high;  that  He  might  be  as  He  had  been  from  the 
beginning,  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  the  Master 
of  this  world  and  all  the  nations  in  it.  This  psalm, 
therefore,  is  a  hymn  concerning  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
and  of  God.      It  tells  us  something  of  the  government 


God  is  our  Refuge.  201 

which  Christ  has  been  exercising  over  the  world  ever 
since  the  beginning  of  it,  and  which  He  is  exercising 
over  this  world  now.  It  bids  us  be  still,  and  know  that 
He  is  God — that  He  will  be  exalted  among  the  nations, 
and  will  be  exalted  in  the  earth,  whether  men  like  it  or 
not ;  but  that  they  ought  to  like  it  and  rejoice  in  it,  and 
find  comfort  in  the  thought  that  Christ  Jesus  is  their 
refuge  and  their  strength — a  very  present  help  in 
trouble — as  the  old  Jew  who  wrote  this  psalm  found 
comfort. 

When  this  psalm  was  written,  or  what  particular 
events  it  speaks  of,  I  cannot  tell,  for  I  do  not  think  we 
have  any  means  of  finding  out.  It  may  have  been 
written  in  the  time  of  David,  or  of  Solomon,  or  of  Heze- 
kiah.  It  may  possibly  have  been  written  much  later.  It 
seems  to  me  probably  to  refer — but  I  speak  with  extreme 
diffidence — to  that  Assyrian  invasion,  and  that  preserva- 
tion of  Jerusalem,  of  which  we  heard  in  the  magnificent 
first  lesson  for  this  morning  and  this  afternoon;  when,  at 
the  same  time  that  the  Assyrians  were  crushing,  one  by 
one,  every  nation  in  the  East,  there  was,  as  the  elder 
Isaiah  and  Micah  tell  us  plainly,  a  great  volcanic  out- 
break in  the  Holy  Land.  But  all  this  matters  very 
little  to  us  ;  because  events  analogous  to  those  of  which 
it  speaks  have  happened  not  once  only,  but  many  times, 
and  will  happen  often  again.  And  this  psalm  lays 
down  a  rule  for  judging  of  such  startling  and  terrible 
events  whenever  they  happen,  and  for  saying  of  them, 
"  God  is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in 
trouble."  It  seems  from  the  beginning  of  the  psalm  that 
there  had  been  earthquakes  or  hurricanes  in  Judea — more 


202  God  is  our  Refuge. 

probably  earthquakes,  which  were  and  are  now  frequent 
there.  It  seems  as  if  the  land  had  been  shaken,  and 
cliffs  thrown  into  the  sea,  which  had  rolled  back  in  a 
mighty  wave,  such  as  only  too  often  accompanies  an 
earthquake.  But  the  Psalmist  knew  that  that  was 
God's  doing ;  and  therefore  he  would  not  fear,  though 
the  earth  was  moved,  and  though  the  hills  were 
carried  into  the  very  midst  .  of  the  sea.  It  seems, 
moreover,  that  Jerusalem  itself  had,  as  in  Hezekiah's 
time,  not  been  shaken,  or  at  least  seriously  injured, 
by  the  earthquake.  But  why  ?  "  God  is  in  the 
midst  of  her,  therefore  shall  she  not  be  removed."  It 
seems,  also,  as  if  the  earthquake  or  hurricane  had  been 
actually  a  benefit  to  Jerusalem — which  was  often  then, 
and  has  been  often  since,  in  want  of  water — that  either 
fresh  springs  had  broken  out,  or  abundant  rain  had 
fallen,  as  occurs  at  times  in  such  convulsions  of  nature. 
But  that,  too,  was  God's  doing  on  behalf  of  His  chosen 
city.  "  The  rivers  of  the  flood  "  had  made  ''  glad  the 
city  of  God,  the  holy  place  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  most 
highest." 

Moreover,  there  seem  to  have  been  great  disturb- 
ances and  wars  among  the  nations  round.  The  heathen 
had  made  much  ado,  and  the  kingdoms  had  been  moved. 
But  whatever  their  plans  were,  it  was  God  who  had 
brought  them  to  naught.  God  had  showed  His  voice,  and 
the  earth  melted  away  ;  and  (we  know  not  how)  discom- 
fiture had  fallen  upon  them,  and  a  general  peace  had 
followed.  ''  O  come  hither,"  says  the  Psalmist,  ''  and 
behold  the  works  of  the  Lord,  what  desolations  He  has 
made  in  the  earth."      Not  a  desolation  of  cruelty  and 


God  is  our  Refuge.  203 

tyranny  :  but  a  desolation  of  mercy  and  justice  ;  putting 
down  the  proud,  the  aggressive,  the  ruthless,  and  helping 
the  meek,  the  simple,  the  industrious,  and  the  innocent. 
It  is  He,  says  the  Psalmist,  who  has  made  wars  to  cease 
in  all  the  world,  who  has  broken  the  bow  and  snapped 
the  spear  in  sunder,  and  burned  the  chariots  in  the  fire ; 
and  so,  by  the  voice  of  fact,  said  to  these  kings  and  to 
their  armies,  if  they  would  but  understand  it,  "  Be  still, 
and  know  that  I  am  God  " — that  I,  not  you,  will  be 
exalted  among  the  nations — that  I,  not  you,  will  be  ex- 
alted in  the  earth. 

Such  is  the  46th  Psalm,  one  of  the  noblest  utterances 
of  the  whole  Old  Testament.  And  is  it  not  as  true  for 
us  now,  ay,  for  all  nations  and  all  mankind  now,  as  it 
was  when  it  was  uttered  ?  Is  not  Jesus  Christ  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever  ?  Have  His  words 
passed  away  ?  Did  He  say  in  vain,  "  All  power  is  given 
unto  me  in  heaven  and  earth  ? "  Did  He  say  in  vain, 
"  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world  ? "  I  trust  not.  I  trust  and  I  hope  that  you,  or 
at  least  some  here,  believe  that  Christ  is  ruling  and  guid- 
ing the  world,  the  church,  and  every  individual  soul  who 
trusts  in  Him  toward — 

*  *  One  far  off  divine  event, 

To  which  the  whole  creation  moves.'* 

I  hope  you  do  have  that  trust,  for  your  own  sakes, 
for  the  sake  of  your  own  happiness,  your  own  sound 
peace  of  mind  ;  for  then,  and  then  only,  you  can  afford 
to  be  hopeful  concerning  yourselves,  your  families,  your 
country,  and  the  whole  human  race.  It  must  be  so. 
If  you  believe  that  He  who  hung  upon  the  cross  for  all 


204  God  is  our  Refuge, 

mankind  is  your  refuge  and  strength,  and  the  refuge 
aud  strength  of  all  mankind,  then,  amid  all  the  changes 
and  chances  of  this  mortal  life,  you  can  afford  to  be  still 
calm  in  sudden  calamity,  patient  in  long  afflictions  ;  for 
you  know  that  He  is  God,  He  is  the  Lord,  He  is  the 
Redeemer,  He  is  the  King.  He  knows  best.  He  must 
be  right,  whosoever  else  is  wrong.  Let  Him  do  what 
seemeth  Him  good. 

Now  I  cannot  but  feel  (what  wiser  and  better  men 
than  I  am  feel  more  deeply),  that  this  old-fashioned  faith 
in  the  living  Christ  is  dying  out  among  us.  That  men 
do  not  believe  as  they  used  to  do  in  the  living  Lord  and 
in  His  government,  in  that  perpetual  divine  providence 
which  the  Scriptures  call  "  the  kingdom  of  God." 
They  have  lost  faith  in  Christ's  immediate  and  per- 
sonal government  of  the  world  and  its  nations  ;  and, 
therefore,  they  are  tempted  more  and  more,  either  to 
try  to  misgovern  the  world  themselves,  or  to  fancy  that 
Christ  has  entrusted  His  government,  as  to  a  substitute 
and  vicar,  to  an  aged  priest  at  Rome.  They  have  lost 
faith,  likewise,  in  Christ's  immediate  government  of 
themselves  ;  their  own  fortunes,  their  own  characters, 
and  inmost  souls ;  and,  therefore,  they  are  tempted 
either  to  follow  no  rule  or  guidance  save  their  own 
instincts,  passions,  fancies  ;  or  else,  in  despair  at  their 
own  inward  anarchy,  to  commit  the  keeping  of  their 
souls  to  directors  and  confessors,  instead  of  to  Christ 
Himself,  the  Lord  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh. 

Yes,  the  faith  which  keeps  a  man  ever  face  to  face 
with  God  and  with  Christ,  in  the  least  as  well  as  in  the 
greatest  events  of  life ;   which  says  in  prosperity  and  in 


God  is  our  Refuge,  205 

adversity,  in  plenty  and  scarcity,  in  joy  and  sorrow,  in 
peace  and  war, — It  is  the  Lord's  doing,  it  is  the  Lord's 
sending,  and  therefore  we  can  trust  in  the  Lord — that 
faith  is  growing,  I  fear,  very  rare.  That  faith  was  more 
common,  I  think,  a  generation  or  two  back,  in  old- 
fashioned  church  people  than  in  any  other.  It  could 
not  help  being  so  ;  for  the  good  old  Prayer-Book  upon 
which  they  were  brought  up  is  more  full  of  that  simple 
and  living  faith  in  the  Lord,  from  beginning  to  end,  than 
any  other  book  on  earth  except  the  Bible.  It  was  more 
common,  too,  and  I  suppose  always  will  be,  among  the 
poor  than  among  the  rich  ;  for  the  poor  soon  find  out 
how  little  they  have  to  depend  upon  except  the  Lord  and 
His  good  providence  ;  while  the  rich  are  tempted,  and 
always  will  be,  to  depend  upon  their  own  wealth  and 
their  own  power,  to  trust  in  uncertain  riches,  and  say, 
''  Soul,  take  thine  ease,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years."  It  was  more  common,  too,  and  I  sup- 
pose always  will  be,  among  the  old  than  among  the  young; 
for  the  young  are  tempted  to  trust  not  in  the  Lord,  but 
in  their  own  health,  strength,  wit,  courage,  and  to  put 
their  hopes,  not  on  God's  Providence,  but  on  the  unknown 
chapter  of  accidents  in  the  future,  most  of  which  will 
never  come  to  pass  ;  while  the  old  have  learned  by 
experience  and  disappointment  the  vanity  of  human 
riches,  the  helplessness  of  human  endeavour,  the  blind- 
ness of  human  foresight,  and  are  content  to  go  where 
God  leads  them,  and  say,  *'I  will  go  forth  in  the  strength 
of  the  Lord  God,  and  will  make  mention  of  Thy  righteous- 
ness only.  Thou,  0  God,  hast  taught  me  from  my  youth 
up  until  now  :   therefore   will   I  tell  of  Thy  wondrous 


2o6  God  is  our  Refuge. 

works.  Forsake  me  not,  0  God,  in  mine  old  age,  when 
I  am  grey-headed  ;  until  I  have  showed  Thy  strength 
unto  this  generation,  and  Thy  power  to  all  them  which 
are  yet  for  to  come." 

But,  for  some  reason  or  other,  this  generation  does 
not  seem  to  care  to  see  God's  strength  ;  and  those  that 
are  yet  for  to  come  seem  likely  to  believe  less  and  less 
in  God's  power — believe  less  and  less  that  they  are  in 
Christ's  kingdom,  and  that  Christ  is  ruling  over  them 
and  all  the  world.  They  have  not  faith  in  the  Living 
Lord.  But  they  must  get  back  that  faith,  if  they  wish 
to  keep  that  wealth  and  prosperity  after  which  every 
one  scrambles  so  greedily  nowadays  ;  for  those  who  for- 
get God  are  treading,  they  and  their  children  after  them, 
not,  as  they  fancy,  the  road  to  riches — they  are  treading 
the  road  to  ruin.  So  it  always  was,  so  it  always  will 
be.  Yet  the  majority  of  mankind  will  not  see  it,  and  the 
preacher  must  not  expect  to  be  believed  when  he  says 
it.  Nevertheless  it  is  true.  Those  who  forget  that  they 
are  in  Christ's  kingdom,  Christ  does  not  go  out  of  His 
way  to  punish  them.  They  simply  punish  themselves. 
They  earn  their  own  ruin  by  the  very  laws  of  human 
nature.  They  must  find  hope  in  something  and  strength 
in  something  ;  and  if  they  will  not  see  that  God  is  their 
hope,  they  will  hope  to  get  rich  as  fast  as  possible,  and 
make  themselves  safe  so.  If  they  will  not  see  that 
God  is  their  strength,  they  will  find  strength  in  cunning, 
in  intrigue,  in  flattery  of  the  strong  and  tyranny  over 
the  weak,  and  in  making  themselves  strong  so.  They 
want  a  present  help  in  trouble  ;  and  if  they  will  not 
believe  that  God  is  a  present  help  in  trouble,  they  will 


God  is  our  Refuge.  207 

try  to  help  themselves  out  of  their  trouble  by  begging, 
lying,  swindling,  forging,  and  all  those  meannesses  which 
fill  our  newspapers  with  shameful  stories  day  by  day, 
and  which  all  arise  simply  out  of  want  of  faith  in  God. 

Moreover,  it  is  written,  "  Be  still,  and  know  that  I 
am  God."  And  if  men  will  not  be  still,  they  will  not 
know  that  He  is  God.  And  if  they  do  not  know  that 
the  gracious  Christ  is  God,  they  will  not  be  still ;  and 
therefore  they  will  grow  more  and  more  restless,  discon- 
tented, envious,  violent,  irreverent,  full  of  passions 
which  injure  their  own  souls,  and  sap  the  very  founda- 
tions of  order  and  society  and  civilised  life.  And 
what  can  come  out  of  all  these  selfish  passions,  when 
they  are  let  loose,  but  that  in  which  selfishness  must 
always  end,  but  that  same  mistrust  and  anarchy, 
ending  in  that  same  poverty  and  wretchedness,  under 
which  so  many  countries  of  the  world  now  lie,  as  it  were, 
weltering  in  the  mire.  Alas  !  say  rather  weltering  in 
their  own  life-blood — and  all  because  they  have  forgotten 
the  living  God  ? 

Oh,  my  dear  friends,  take  these  words  solemnly  to 
heart — for  yourselves,  and  for  your  children  after  you. 
If  you  wish  to  prosper  on  the  earth,  let  God  be  in  all 
your  thoughts.  Remember  that  the  Lord  is  on  your 
right  hand  ;  and  then,  and  then  alone,  will  you  not  be 
moved,  either  to  terror  or  to  sin,  by  any  of  the  chances 
and  changes  of  this  mortal  life.  "  Fret  not  thyself," 
says  the  Psalmist,  ''  else  shalt  thou  be  moved  to  do 
evil."  And  the  only  way  not  to  fret  yourselves  is  to 
remember  that  God  is  your  refuge  and  strength,  a  very 
present  help  in  trouble.     ''  He  that  believeth,"  saith  the 


2o8  God  is  our  Refuge. 

Prophet,  "shall  not  make  haste" — not  hurry  himself  into 
folly  and  disappointment  and  shame.  Why  should  you 
hurry,  if  you  remember  that  you  are  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  and  of  God  ?  You  cannot  hurry  God's  Providence, 
if  you  would  ;  you  ought  not,  if  you  could.  God  "must 
know  best ;  God's  Laws  Tfiust  work  at  the  right  pace,  and 
fulfil  His  Will  in  the  right  way  and  at  the  right  time. 
As  for  what  that  Will  is,  we  can  know  from  the  angels' 
song  on  Christmas  Eve,  which  told  us  how  God's  Will  was 
a  good  will  towards  men. 

For  who  is  our  Lord  ?  Who  is  our  King  ?  Who  is 
our  Governor  ?  Who  is  our  Lawgiver  ?  Who  is  our 
Guide  ?  Christ,  who  died  for  us  on  Calvary  ;  who  rose 
again  for  us;  who  ascended  into  heaven  for  us;  who  sits  at 
God's  right  hand  for  us ;  who  sent  down  His  Holy  Spirit 
at  the  first  Whitsuntide  ;  and  sends  Him  down  for  ever 
to  us ;  that  by  His  gracious  inspiration  we  may  both 
perceive  and  know  what  we  ought  to  do,  and  also  may 
have  grace  and  power  faithfully  to  fulfil  the  same  ? 
With  such  a  King  over  us,  how  can  the  world  but  go 
right  ?  With  such  a  King  over  us,  what  refuge  or 
strength  or  help  in  trouble  do  we  need  but  Him  Him- 
self ? — His  Providence,  which  is  Love,  and  His  Laws, 
which  are  Life. 


SERMON    XXIII. 

PRIDE    AND    HUMILITY. 
Eversley,  1869.     Chester  Cathedral^  1870. 

1  St.  Peter  v.  5. 
**  God  resisteth  the  proud,  and  giveth  grace  to  the  humble." 

Let  me,  this  evening,  say  a  few  words  to  you  on 
theology,  that  is,  on  the  being  and  character  of  God. 
You  need  not  be  afraid  that  I  shall  use  long  or  difficult 
words.  Sound  theology  is  simple  enough,  and  I  hope 
that  my  words  about  it  will  be  simple  enough  for  the 
worst  scholar  here  to  understand. 

"  God  resisteth  the  proud,  and  giveth  grace  to 
the  humble."  Now,  this  saying  is  an  old  one.  It 
had  been  said,  in  different  words,  centuries  before 
St  Peter  said  it.  The  old  prophets  and  psalmists  say 
it  again  and  again.  The  idea  of  it  runs  through 
the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  anyone  must 
Know  who  has  read  his  Bible  with  common  care. 
But  why  should  it  be  true  ?  What  reason  is  there  for 
it  ?  What  is  there  in  the  character  of  God  which 
makes  it  reasonable,  probable,  likely  to  be  true  ?  That 
God  would  give  grace  to  the  humble,  and  reward  men 
for  bowing  down  before  His  Majesty,  seems  not  so 
difficult  to  understand.      But  why  should  God  resist  the 

o 


2  I  o  Pride  and  Htmiility. 

prond  ?  How  does  a  man's  being  proud  injure  God,  who 
is  ''  I  AM  THAT  I  AM  ; "  perfectly  self-sufficient,  hav- 
ing neither  parts  nor  passions,  who  tempteth  no  man, 
neither  is  tempted  of  any  ?  Why  should  God  go  out  of 
His  way,  as  it  were,  to  care  for  such  a  paltry  folly  as  the 
pride  of  an  ignorant,  weak,  short-sighted  creature  like 
man  ? 

Now,  let  us  take  care  that  we  do  not  give  a  wrong 
answer  to  this  question — an  answer  which  too  m.any 
have  given,  in  their  hearts  and  minds,  though  not 
perhaps  in  words,  and  so  have  fallen  into  abject  and 
cruel  superstitions,  from  which  may  God  keep  us,  and  our 
children  after  us.  They  have  said  to  themselves,  God  is 
proud,  and  has  a  right  to  be  proud  :  and  therefore  He 
chooses  no  one  to  be  proud  but  Himself.  Pride  in 
man  calls  out  His  pride,  and  makes  Him  angry.  They 
have  thought  of  God  as  some  despotic  Sultan  of  the 
Indies,  who  is  surrounded,  not  by  free  men,  but  by 
slaves  ;  who  will  have  those  slaves  at  his  beck  and  nod. 
In  one  word,  they  have  thought  of  God  as  a  tyrant. 
They  have  thought  of  God,  and,  may  God  forgive  them, 
have  talked  of  God  as  if  He  were  like  Nebuchadnezzar 
of  old,  who,  when  the  three  young  men  refused  to 
obey  him,  was  filled  with  rage  and  fury,  and  cast  them 
into  a  burninar  fierv  furnace.  That  is  some  men's  God — 
a  God  who  must  be  propitiated  by  crouching  and 
flattery,  lest  he  should  destroy  them — a  God  who  holds 
all  men  as  his  slaves,  and  therefore  hates  pride  in  them. 
For  what  has  a  slave  to  do  with  pride  ? 

But  that  is  not  the  God  of  the  Bible,  my  friends,  nor 
the  God  of  Nature  either,  the  God  who  made  the  world 


Pride  and  Humility,  2 1 1 

and  man.  For  He  is  not  a  tyrant,  but  a  Father.  He 
wishes  men  not  to  be  His  slaves,  but  His  children.  And 
if  He  resists  the  proud,  it  is  because  children  have  no 
right  to  be  proud.  If  He  resists  the  proud,  it  is  in 
fatherly  love,  because  it  is  bad  for  them  to  be  proud. 
Not  because  the  proud  are  injuring  God,  but  because 
they  are  injuring  themselves,  does  God  resist  them,  and 
bring  them  low,  and  show  them  what  they  are,  and 
where  they  are,  that  they  may  repent,  and  be  converted, 
and  turned  back  into  the  right  way. 

Remember  always  that  God  is  your  Father.  This 
question,  like  all  questions  between  God  and  man, 
is  a  question  between  a  father  and  a  child  ;  and  if  you 
see  it  in  any  other  light,  and  judge  it  by  any  other  rule, 
you  see  it  and  judge  it  wrongly,  and  learn  nothing 
about  it,  or  worse  than  nothing.  If  God  were  really 
angry  Avith,  really  hated,  the  proud  man,  or  any  other 
man,  would  He  need  only  to  resist  him  ?  would  He  have 
to  wait  till  the  next  life  to  punish  him  ?  My  dear 
friends,  if  God  really  hated  you  or  me,  do  you  not 
suppose  that  He  would  simply  destroy  us — get  rid  of  us 
— abolish  us  and  annihilate  us  off  the  face  of  the  earth, 
just  as  we  crush  a  gnat  when  it  bites  us  ? 

That  God  can  do ;  and  more — He  does  it  now  and 
then.  He  will  endure  with  much  long  suffering  vessels 
of  wrath,  fitted  to  destruction  :  but  a  moment  sometimes 
comes  when  He  will  endure  them  no  longer,  and  He 
destroys  them  with  the  destruction  for  which  they  have 
fitted  themselves.  In  them  is  fulfilled  the  parable  of 
the  rich  man,  who  said  to  himself,  "  Soul,  thou  hast 
much  good  laid  up  for  many  years  ;  take  thine  ease,  eat, 


212  Pride  and  Htcniility. 

drink,  and  be  merry.      But  God  said   unto  him,  Thou 
fool,  this  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee." 

But  for  the  most  part,  thanks  to  the  mercy  of  our 
Heavenly  Father,  we  are  not  destroyed  by  our  pride  and 
for  our  pride.  We  are  only  chastened,  as  a  father  chastens 
his  child.  And  that  we  are  chastised  for  pride,  who  does 
not  know  ?  What  proverb  more  common,  what  proverb 
more  true,  than  that  after  pride  comes  a  fall  ?  Do  we 
not  know  (if  we  do  not,  we  shall  know  sooner  or  later) 
that  the  surest  way  to  fail  in  any  undertaking  is  to  set 
about  it  in  self-will  and  self-conceit ;  that  the  surest 
way  to  do  a  foolish  thing,  is  to  fancy  that  we  are  going 
to  do  a  very  wise  one ;  that  the  surest  way  to  make 
ourselves  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  our  fellow-men,  is  to 
assume  airs,  and  boast,  shew  ourselves  off,  and  end  by 
shewing  off  only  our  own  folly  ? 

Why  is  it  so  ?  Why  has  God  so  ordered  the  world 
and  human  nature,  that  pride  punishes  itself  ?  Because, 
I  presume,  pride  is  begotten  and  born  of  a  lie,  and 
God  hates  a  lie,  because  all  lies  lead  to  ruin,  and  this 
lie  of  pride  above  all.  It  is  as  it  were  the  root  lie 
of  all  lies.  The  very  lie  by  which,  as  old  tales  tell, 
Satan  fell  from  heaven,  and  when  he  tried  to  become  a 
god  in  his  own  right,  found  himself,  to  his  surprise  and 
disappointment,  only  a  devil.  For  pride  and  self-conceit 
contradict  the  original  constitution  of  man  and  the  uni- 
verse, which  is  this — that  of  God  are  all  things,  and  in 
God  are  all  things,  and  for  God  are  all  things.  Man  de- 
pends on  God.  Self  tells  him  that  he  depends  on  him- 
self Man  has  nothing  but  what  he  receives  from  God. 
Self  tells  him  that  what  he  has  is  his  own,  and  that  he 


Pride  and  Humility,  2 1 3 

has  a  right  to  do  with  it  what  he  likes.  Man  knows  no- 
thing but  what  God  teaches  him.  Self  tells  him  that 
he  has  found  out  everything  for  himself,  and  can  say  what 
he  thinks  fit  without  fear  of  God  or  man.  Therefore  the 
proud,  self-willed,  self- conceited  man  must  come  to  harm, 
like  Malvolio  in  the  famous  play,  merely  because  he  is 
in  the  blackest  night  of  ignorance.  He  has  mistaken 
who  he  is,  what  he  is,  where  he  is.  He  is  fancying  him- 
self, as  many  mad  men  do,  the  centre  of  the  universe  ; 
while  God  is  the  centre  of  the  universe.  He  is  just  as 
certain  to  come  to  harm  as  a  man  would  be  on  board 
a  ship,  who  should  fancy  that  he  himself,  and  not  the 
ship,  was  keeping  him  afloat,  and  step  overboard  to  walk 
upon  the  sea.  We  all  know  what  would  happen  to  that 
man.  Let  us  thank  God  our  Father  that  He  not  only 
knows  what  would  happen  to  such  men  :  but  desires  to 
save  them  from  the  consequences  of  their  own  folly,  by 
letting  them  feel  the  consequences  of  their  own  folly. 

Oh  my  friends,  let  us  search  our  hearts,  and  pray 
to  our  Father  in  Heaven  to  take  out  of  them,  by  what- 
ever painful  means,  the  poisonous  root  of  pride,  self-con- 
ceit, self-will.  So  only  shall  we  be  truly  strong — truly 
wise.      So  only  shall  we  see  what  and  where  we  are. 

Do  we  pride  ourselves  on  being  something  ?  Shall 
we  pride  ourselves  on  health  and  strength  ?  A  tile  fall- 
ing off  the  roof,  a  little  powder  and  lead  in  the  hands  of 
a  careless  child,  can  blast  us  out  of  this  world  in  a  moment 
— whither,  who  can  tell  ?  What  is  our  cleverness — our 
strength  of  mind  ?  A  tiny  blood  vessel  bursting  on  the 
brain,  will  make  us  in  one  moment  paralytic,  helpless, 
babblers,   and    idiots.      What  is  our   knowledge   of  the 


2 1 4  Pride  and  Htcmility. 

world  ?  That  of  a  man,  who  is  forcing  his  way  alone 
through  a  thick  and  pathless  wood,  where  he  has  never 
been  before,  to  a  place  which  he  has  never  seen.  What 
is  our  wisdom — What  does  a  wise  man  say  of  his  ? 

"  So  runs  my  dream  ;  but  what  am  I  ? 
An  infant  crying  in  the  night  ; 
An  infant  crying  for  the  light ; 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry." 

Yes.  Our  true  knowledge  is  to  know  our  own  ignor- 
ance. Our  true  strength  is  to  know  our  own  weakness. 
Our  true  dignity  is  to  confess  that  we  have  no  dignity, 
and  are  nobody,  and  nothing  in  ourselves,  and  to  cast 
ourselves  down  before  the  Dignity  of  God,  under  the 
shadow  of  whose  wings,  and  in  the  smile  of  whose 
countenance,  alone,  is  any  created  being  safe.  Let  us 
cling  to  our  Father  in  Heaven,  as  a  child,  walking  in  the 
night,  clings  to  his  father's  hand.  Let  us  take  refuge 
on  the  lowest  step  of  the  throne  of  Christ  our  Lord,  and 
humble  ourselves  under  His  mighty  hand  ;  and,  instead  of 
exalting  ourselves  in  undue  time,  leave  Him  to  exalt  us 
asain  in  due  time,  when  the  chastisement  has  told  on  us, 
and  patience  had  her  perfect  work  ;  casting  all  our  care  on 
Him,  who  surely  cares  for  us  still,  if  He  cared  for  us 
once,  enough  to  die  for  us  on  the  cross  ;  caring  for  God's 
opinion  and  not  for  the  opinion  of  the  world.  And  then 
we  shall  be  among  the  truly  humble,  to  whom  God  gives 
grace — first  grace  in  their  own  hearts,  that  they  may 
live  gracious  lives,  modest  and  contented,  dignified  and 
independent,  trusting  in  God  and  not  in  man ;  and  then, 
grace  in  the  eyes  of  their  fellowmen,  for  what  is  more 
graceful,  what  is  more  gracious,  pleasant  to  see,  pleasant 


Pride  and  Htimility.  2 1 5 

to  deal  with,  than  the  humble  man,  the  modest  man  ? 
I  do  not  mean  the  cringing  man,  the  flattering  man, 
the  man  who  apes  humility  for  his  own  ends,  because  he 
wants  to  climb  high,  by  pretending  to  be  lowly.  He  is 
neither  graceful  or  gracious.  He  is  only  contemptible, 
and  he  punishes  himself.  He  spoils  his  own  game.  He 
defeats  his  own  purpose.  For  men  despise  him,  and  use 
him,  and  throw  him  away  when  they  have  done  with 
him,  as  they  throw  away  a  dirty  worn-out  tool. 

Not  him  do  I  mean  by  the  humble  man,  the  modest 
man.  I  mean  the  man  who,  like  a  good  soldier,  knows 
his  place  and  keeps  it,  knows  his  duty,  and  does  it  ; 
who  expects  to  be  treated  as  a  man  should  be,  with 
fairness,  consideration,  respect,  kindness — and  God  will 
always  treat  him  so,  whether  man  does  or  not :  but 
who,  beyond  that,  does  not  trouble  his  mind  with 
whether  he  be  private  or  sergeant,  lieutenant  or  colonel, 
but  with  whether  he  can  do  his  duty  as  private,  his  duty 
as  sergeant,  his  duty  as  lieutenant,  his  duty  as  colonel ; 
who  has  learnt  the  golden  lesson,  which  so  few  learn 
in  these  struggling,  envious,  covetous,  ambitious  days, 
namely,  to  abide  in  the  calling  to  which  he  is  called, 
and  in  whatsoever  state  he  is,  therewith  to  be  content. 
To  be  sure  that  in  God's  world,  the  only  safe  way  to  be- 
come ruler  over  many  things  is  to  be  a  good  ruler  over 
a  few  things  ;  that  if  he  is  fit  for  better  work  than  he  is 
doing  now,  God  will  find  that  out,  sooner  and  more 
surely  than  he,  or  any  man  will,  and  will  set  him  about 
it ;  and  that,  meanwhile,  God  has  set  him  about  work 
which  he  can  do,  and  that  the  true  wisdom  is  to  do  that 
and  do  it  well,  and  so  approve  himself  alike  to  man  and 


2 1 6  Pride  and  Humility. 

God,  humbling  himself  under  the  mighty  hand  of  God, 
that  He  may  exalt  him  in  good  time,  by  giving  him 
grace  and  strength  to  do  great  things,  as  He  has  given 
him  grace  and  strength  to  do  small  things. 

Am  I  speaking  almost  to  deaf  ears  ?  I  fear  that 
few  here  will  take  my  advice.  I  fear  that  many  here 
will  have  excellent  excuses  and  plain  reasons,  why  they 
should  not  take  it.  Be  it  so.  They  cannot  alter  eternal 
fact.  In  one  word,  they  cannot  alter  Theology.  They 
cannot  alter  the  laws  of  God.  They  cannot  alter  the 
character  of  God.  And  sooner  or  later,  in  this  world  or 
in  the  next,  they  will  find  out  that  Theology  is  right : 
and  St  Peter  is  right :  that  God  doe,s  resist  the  proud, 
that  God  does  give  grace  to  the  humble. 


SERMON    XXIY. 

WOKSHIP. 

Eversley^  September  4,  1870. 

Revelation  xi.  16,  17. 

*' And  the  four  and  twenty  eiders,  which  sat  before  God  on  their  seats, 
fell  upon  their  faces,  and  worshipped  God,  saying,  We  give  thee 
thanks,  O  Lord  God  Almighty,  which  art,  and  wast,  and  art  to 
come  ;  because  thou  hast  taken  to  thee  thy  great  power,  and  hast 
reigned." 

My  Dear  Friends, — I  wish  to  speak  a  few  plain  words 
to  you  this  morning,  on  a  matter  which  has  been  on 
my  mind  ever  since  I  retunied  from  Chester,  namely, — 
The  duty  of  the  congregation  to  make  the  responses  in 
Church. 

Now  I  am  not  going  to  scold — even  to  blame.  To 
do  so  would  be  not  only  unjust,  but  ungrateful  in  me, 
to  a  congregation  which  is  as  attentive  and  as  reverent 
as  you  are.  Indeed,  I  am  the  only  person  to  blame,  for 
I  ought  to  have  spoken  on  the  subject  long  ago. 

As  it  is,  coming  fresh  from  Chester,  and  accustomed  to 
hear  congregations,  in  that  city  and  in  the  country 
round,  reading  the  responses  aloud  throughout  the 
service  with  earnestness,  and  reverence,  I  was  pain- 
fully struck  by  the  silence  in  this  church.  I  had  be- 
fore grown  so  accustomed  to  it  that  I  did  not  perceive 


2 1 8  Worship. 

it,  just  as  one  grows  accustomed  to  a  great  many  things 
which  ought  not  to  be,  till  one  forgets  that,  however 
usual  they  may  be,  wrong  they  are,  and  ought  to  be 
amended. 

Now,  it  is  always  best  to  begin  at  the  root  of  a 
matter.  So  to  begin  at  the  root  of  this.  Why  do  we 
come  to  church  at  all  ? 

Some  will  say,  to  hear  the  sermon.  That  is  often 
too  true.  Some  folks  do  come  to  church  to  hear  a  man 
get  up  and  preach,  just  as  they  go  to  a  concert  to  hear 
a  man  get  up  and  sing,  to  amuse  and  interest  them  for 
half-an-hour.  Some  go  to  hear  sermons,  doubtless,  in 
order  that  they  may  learn  from  them.  But  are  there  not, 
especially  in  these  days  of  cheap  printing,  books  of  devo- 
tion, tracts,  sermons,  printed,  which  contain  better  preach- 
ing than  any  which  they  are  likely  to  hear  in  church  ? 
If  teaching  is  all  that  they  come  to  church  for,  they  can 
get  that  in  plenty  at  home.  Moreover,  nine  j^eople  out 
of  ten  who  come  to  church  need  no  teaching  at  all. 
They  know  already,  just  as  well  as  the  preacher,  what  is 
right  and  what  is  wrong  ;  they  know  their  duty ;  they 
know  how  to  do  it.  And  if  they  do  not  intend  to  do  it, 
all  the  talking  in  the  world  (as  far  as  I  have  seen)  will 
not  make  them  do  it.  Moreover,  if  the  teaching  in  the 
sermon  be  what  we  come  to  church  for,  why  have  we 
prayer-books  full  of  prayers,  thanksgivings,  psalms,  and 
so  forth,  which  are  not  sermons  at  all  ?  What  is  the 
use  of  the  service,  as  we  call  it,  if  the  sermon  is  the  only 
or  even  the  principal  object  for  which  we  come  ?  I 
trust  there  are  many  of  you  here  who  agree  with  me  so 
fully,  that  you  would  come  regularly  to   church,  as  I 


Worship,  2 1 9 

should,  even  if  tliere  were  no  sermon,  knowing  that  God 
preaches  to  every  man,  in  the  depths  of  his  own  heart 
and  conscience,  far  more  solemn  and  startling  sermons 
than  any  mortal  man  can  ntter. 

Others  will  answer  that  they  come  to  church  to  say 
their  prayers.  Well :  that  is  a  wiser  answer  than  the  last. 
But  if  that  be  all,  why  can  they  not  say  their  prayers  at 
home  ?  God  is  everywhere.  God  is  all-seeing,  all-hear- 
ing, about  our  path  and  about  our  bed,  and  spying  out 
all  our  ways.  Is  He  not  as  ready  to  hear  in  the  field, 
and  in  the  workshop  and  in  the  bed-chamber,  as  in  the 
church  ?  "  When  thou  prayest,"  says  our  Lord,  ''  enter 
into  thy  closet,  and  when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door,  pray 
to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret ;  and  thy  Father  which 
seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  thee  openly."  Those  are 
not  my  words,  they  are  the  words  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  Himself;  and  none  can  gainsay  them.  None 
dare  take  from  them  or  add  to  them  ;  and  our  coming  to 
church,  therefore,  must  be  for  more  reasons  than  for  the 
mere  saying  of  our  prayers. 

Others  will  answer — very  many,  indeed,  will  answer — 
we  come  to  church  because — because,  we  hardly  know 
why,  but  because  we  ought  to  come  to  church. 

Some  may  call  that  a  silly  answer,  only  fit  for 
children  :  but  I  do  not  think  so.  It  seems  to  me  a  very 
rational  answer :  perhaps  a  very  reverent  and  godly 
answer.  A  man  comes  to  church  for  reasons  which  he 
cannot  explain  to  himself:  just  so — and  many  of  the 
deepest  and  best  feelings  of  our  hearts,  are  just  those  that 
we  cannot  explain  to  ourselves,  though  we  believe  in 
them,  would  fight  for  them,  die  for  them.      The  man 


220  Worship. 

who  frankly  confesses  that  he  does  not  quite  know 
why  he  comes  to  church  is  most  likely  to  know  at 
last  why  he  does  come ;  most  likely  to  understand 
the  answer  which  Scripture  gives  to  the  question 
why  we  come  to  church.  And  what  answer  is  that  ? 
Strange  to  say,  one  which  people  now-a-days,  with  their 
Bibles  in  their  hands,  have  almost  forgotten.  We  come 
to  church,  according  to  the  Bible,  to  worship  God. 

To  worship.  Think  awhile  what  that  ancient  and 
deep  and  noble  word  signifies.  So  ancient  is  it,  that 
man  learnt  to  worship  even  before  he  learnt  to  till  the 
ground.  So  deep,  that  even  to  this  day  no  man 
altogether  understands  what  worshipping  means.  So 
noble,  that  the  noblest  souls  on  earth  delight  most  in 
worshipping ;  that  the  angels,  and  archangels,  and  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  find  no  nobler  occupa- 
tion, no  higher  enjoyment,  in  the  heavenly  world  than 
worshipping  for  ever  Him  whose  glory  fills  all  earth  and 
heaven.  To  worship.  That  power  of  worship,  that 
longing  to  worship,  that  instinct  that  it  is  his  duty  to 
worship  something,  is — if  you  will  receive  it — the  true 
distinction  between  men  and  brutes.  Philosophers  have 
tried  to  define  man  as  this  sort  of  animal  and  that  sort 
of  animal.  The  only  sound  definition  is  this  :  man  is 
t}ie  one  animal  who  worships  ;  and  he  worships,  just 
because  he  is  not  merely  an  animal,  but  a  man,  with  an 
immortal  soul  within  him.  Just  in  as  far  as  man  sinks 
down  again  to  the  level  of  the  brute — whether  in  some 
savage  island  of  the  South  Seas,  or  in  some  equally 
savage  alley  of  our  own  great  cities — God  forgive  us 
that  such  human  brutes  should  exist  here  in  Christian 


Worship,  221 

England — -just  so  far  lie  feels  no  need  to  worship.  He 
thinks  of  no  unseen  God  or  powers  above  him.  He 
cares  for  nothing  but  what  his  five  senses  tell  him  of ; 
he  feels  no  need  to  go  to  church  and  worship.  Just 
in  as  far  as  a  man  rises  to  the  true  standard  of 
a  man  ;  just  in  af  far  as  his  heart  and  his  mind  are 
truly  cultivated,  truly  developed,  just  so  far  does  he 
become  more  and  more  aware  of  an  unseen  world  about 
him  ;  more  and  more  aware  that  in  God  he  lives  and 
moves  and  has  his  being — and  so  much  the  more  he 
feels  the  longing  and  the  duty  to  worship  that  unseen 
God  on  whom  he  and  the  whole  universe  depend. 

T  know  what  seeming  exceptions  there  are  to  this  rule, 
especially  in  these  days.  But  I  say  that  they  are  only 
seeming  exceptions.  I  never  knew  yet  (and  I  have  known 
many  of  them)  a  virtuous  and  high-minded  unbeliever: 
but  what  there  was  in  him  the  instinct  of  worshipping — 
the  longing  to  worship — he  knew  not  what,  the  spirit  of 
reverence,  which  confesses  its  own  ignorance  and  weak- 
ness, and  is  ready  to  set  up,  like  the  Athenians  of  old, 
an  altar — in  the  heart  at  least — to  the  unknown  God. 

But  how  to  worship  Him  ?  The  word  itself,  if  we 
consider  what  it  means,  will  tell  us  that.  Worship, 
without  doubt,  is  the  same  word  as  worth-ship.  It 
signifies  the  worth  of  Him  whom  we  worship,  that  He  is 
worth  V, — a  worthy  God,  not  merely  because  of  what  He 
has  done,  but  because  of  what  He  is  worth  in  Himself 
Good,  excellent,  and  perfect  in  Himself,  and  therefore  to 
be  admired,  praised,  reverenced,  adored,  worshipped — 
even  if  He  had  never  done  a  kindness  to  you  or  to  any 
human  being.     Remember  this  last  truth.      For  true  it 


222  Worship. 

is  ;  and  we  remember  it  too  little.  Of  course  we  know 
that  God  is  good ;  first  and  mainly  by  His  goodness  to 
us.  Because  He  is  good  enough  to  give  us  life  and 
breath  and  all  things,  we  conclude  that  He  is  a  good 
being.  Because  He  is  good  enough  to  have  not  spared 
His  only  begotten  Son,  but  freely  %iven  Him  for  us, 
when  we  wer3  still  sinners  and  rebels,  we  conclude  Him 
to  be  the  best  of  all  beings,  a  being  of  boundless  good- 
ness. But  it  is  because  God  is  so  perfectly  and  gloriously 
good  in  Himself,  and  not  merely  because  He  has  done  us 
kindnesses,  yea,  heaped  us  with  undeserved  benefits,  that 
w^e  are  to  worship  Him.  For  His  kindnesses  we  owe 
Him  gratitude,  and  gratitude  without  end.  But  for  His 
excellent  and  glorious  goodness,  we  owe  Him  worship, 
and  worship  without  end. 

There  are  some  hearts,  surely,  among  you  here 
who  know  what  I  mean  :  some  here  who  have  felt 
reverence  and  admiration  for  some  great  and  good 
human  being,  and  who  have  felt,  too,  that  that  rever- 
ence and  admiration  is  one  of  the  most  elevating  and 
unselfish  of  all  feelings,  and  quite  distinct  from  any 
gratitude,  however  just,  for  favours  done ;  who  can  say, 
in  their  hearts,  of  some  noble  human  being :  "  If  he 
never  did  me  a  kindness,  never  spoke  to  me,  never  knew 
of  my  existence,  I  should  honour  him  and  love  him  just 
the  same,  for  the  noble  and  good  personage  that  he  is, 
irrespective  of  little  me,  and  my  paltry  wants."  Then, 
even  such  ought  to  be  our  feeling  toward  God,  our 
"worship  of  God.  Even  so  should  we  adore  Him  who 
alone  is  worthy  of  glory,  and  honour,  and  praise,  and 
thanksgiving,   because   He  is  good,  and    beautiful,  and 


Worship.  223 

wise  Himself,  and  the  cause  and  source  of  all  goodness, 
and  beauty,  and  wisdom,  in  all  created  beings,  and  in  the 
whole  universe,  past,  present,  and  to  come.  Consider,  I 
beseech  you,  those  glimpses  of  the  Eternal  Worship  in 
heaven  which  St  John  gives  us  in  the  Book  of  Revela- 
tion— How  he  saw  the  elders  fall  down  before  Him  who 
sat  upon  the  throne,  and  worship  Him  that  liveth  for 
ever,  and  cast  their  cro-\vns  before  the  throne,  saying : 
"  Thou  art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory,  and  honour, 
and  power ;  for  Thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for 
Thy  pleasure  they  are  and  were  created." 

Consider  that — Those  blessed  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect,  confessing  that  they  are  nothing,  but  that 
Christ  is  all ;  that  they  have  nothing,  but  that  they  owe 
all  to  Christ ;  and  declaring  Him  worthy — not  merely 
for  any  special  mercies  and  kindnesses  to  themselves, 
not  even  for  that  crowning  mercy  of  His  incarnation, 
His  death.  His  redemption  ;  even  that  seems  to  have 
vanished  from  their  minds  at  the  sight  of  Him  as  He  is. 
They  glorify  Him  and  worship  Him  simply  for  what  He  is 
in  Himself,  for  what  He  would  have  been  even  if — which 
God  forbid — He  had  never  stooped  from  heaven  to  live 
and  die  on  earth — for  what  He  is  and  was  and  will  be 
through  eternity,  the  Creator  and  the  Ruler,  who  has 
made  all  things,  and  for  whose  pleasure  they  are  and 
were  created.  Consider  that  one  text.  The  more  I 
consider  it,  the  more  awful  and  yet  most  blessed  depths 
of  teaching  do  I  find  therein  :  and  consider  this  text 
also,  another  glimpse  of  the  worship  which  is  in  heaven. 

"  I  heard  a  great  voice  of  much  people  in  heaven, 
singing  Alleluia ;  salvation,  and  glory,  and  honour,  and 


224  Worship. 

power,  unto  the  Lord  our  God ;  for  true  and  righteous 
are  His  judgments."  What  the  special  judgment  was, 
for  which  these  blessed  souls  worshipped  God,  I  shall 
"not  argue  here.  It  is  enough  for  us  that  they  wor- 
shipped God,  as  we  should  worship  Him,  because  His 
judgments  were  righteous  and  true,  were  like  Himself, 
proved  Him  to  be  what  He  was,  worthy  in  Himself, 
because  He  is  righteous  and  true.  And  consider  then, 
again — the  text.  Before  Him,  the  righteous  and  true 
Being  who  has  created  all  things  for  His  pleasure,  and 
therefore  has  made  them  wisely  and  well ;  before  Him 
who  reigns,  and  will  reign  till  He  has  put  all  His 
enemies  under  His  foot ;  before  Him,  I  say,  bow  down 
yourselves,  and  find  true  nobleness  in  confessing  your 
own  paltriness,  true  strength  in  confessing  your  own 
weakness,  true  wisdom  in  confessing  your  own  ignorance, 
true  holiness  in  confessing  your  own  sins. 

And  not  alone  merely,  each  in  your  own  chamber,  or 
in  your  own  heart.  That  is  the  place  for  private  con- 
fessions of  sin,  for  private  prayers  for  help  ;  for  all  the 
secrets  which  we  dare  not,  and  need  not  tell  to  any 
human  being.  They  indeed  are  not  out  of  place  here 
in  church.  Those  who  composed  our  Prayer  Book  felt 
that,  and  have  filled  our  services,  the  Litany  especially, 
with  prayers  in  which  each  of  us  can  offer  up  his  own 
troubles  to  God,  if  he  but  remember  that  he  is  offering 
up  to  God  his  neighbour's  troubles  also,  and  the  troubles 
of  all  mankind.  For  this  is  the  reason  why  we  pray 
together  in  church  ;  why  all  men,  in  all  ages,  heathen 
as  well  as  Christian,  have  had  the  instinct  of  assembling 
ogether  for   public  worship.      They  may  have  fancied 


Worship,  225 

often  that  their  deity  dwelt  in  one  special  spot,  and  that 
they  must  go  thither  to  find  him.  They  may  have 
fancied  that  he  or  she  dwelt  in  some  particular  image, 
and  that  they  must  visit,  and  pray  to  that  particular 
image,  if  they  wished  their  prayers  to  be  heard.  All 
this,  however,  have  men  done  in  their  foolishness  ;  but 
beneath  that  foolishness  there  have  been  always  more 
rational  ideas,  sounder  notions.  They  felt  that  it  was 
God  Avho  had  made  them  into  families,  and  therefore 
whole  families  met  together  to  worship  in  common 
Him  of  whom  every  family  in  heaven  and  earth  is 
named.  That  God  had  formed  them  into  societies 
whether  into  tribes,  as  of  old,  or  into  parishes,  as 
here  now  ;  and  therefore  whole  parishes  came  together 
to  worship  God,  whose  laws  they  were  bound  to 
obey  in  their  parochial  society.  They  felt  that  it 
was  God  who  had  made  them  into  Nations  (as  the 
psalm  says  which  we  repeat  every  Sunday  morning), 
and  not  they  themselves  ;  and  therefore  they  conceived 
the  grand  idea  of  National  churches,  in  which  the  whole 
nation  should,  if  possible,  worship  Sunday  after  Sunday, 
at  the  same  time,  and  in  the  same  words,  that  God  to 
whom  they  owed  their  order,  their  freedom,  their 
strength,  their  safety,  their  National  unity  and  life. 
And  not  in  silence  merely.  These  blessed  souls  in 
heaven  are  not  silent.  They  in  heaven  follow  out  the 
human  instinct  which  they  had  on  earth,  which  all  men 
(when  they  recollect  themselves,  will  have),  when  they 
feel  a  thing  deeply,  when  they  believe  a  thing  strongly, 
to  speak  it — to  speak  it  aloud.  They  do  not  fancy  in 
heaven,  as  the  priests  of  Baal  did  on   earth,  that  they 

P 


2  26  Worship. 

mast  cry  aloud,  or  God  could  not  hear  them.  They  do 
not  fancy,  as  the  heathen  do,  that  they  must  make  vain 
repetitions,  and  say  the  same  words  over  and  over  again 
by  rote,  because  they  will  be  heard  for  their  much 
speaking;  neither  need  you  and  I.  But  yet  they  spoke 
aloud,  because  out  of  the  fulness  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaketh  ;  and  so  should  you  and  I. 

And  this  brings  me  to  the  special  object  of  my  sermon. 
I  have  told  you  what  (as  it  seems  to  me)  Worship  means ; 
why  we  worship;  why  we  worsliip  together;  and  why  we 
ought  to  worship  aloud.  Believe  me,  this  last  is  your 
duty  just  as  much  as  mine.  The  services  of  the  Church 
of  England  are  so  constructed  that  the  whole  congrega- 
tion may  take  part  in  them,  that  they  may  answer  aloud 
in  the  responses,  that  they  may  say  Amen  at  the  end  of 
each  prayer,  just  as  they  read  or  chant  aloud  the  alternate 
verses  of  the  Psalms.  The  minister  does  not  say  prayers 
for  them,  but  with  them.  He  is  only  their  leader,  their 
guide.  And  if  they  are  not  to  join  in  with  their  voices, 
there  is  really  no  reason  why  he  should  use  his  voice, 
why  he  should  not  say  the  prayers  in  silence  and  to 
himself,  if  the  congregation  are  to  say  Amen  in  silence 
and  to  themselves.  Each  person  in  the  congregation 
ought  to  join  aloud,  first  for  the  sake  of  his  neighbours, 
and  then  for  his  own  sake. 

For  the  sake  of  his  neighbours :  for  to  hear  each 
others  voices  stirs  up  earnestness,  stirs  up  attention, 
keeps  off  laziness,  inattention,  and  by  a  wholesome 
infection,  makes  all  the  congregation  of  one  mind,  as 
they  are  of  one  speech,  in  glorifying  God.  And  for  his 
own  sake,   too.      For,   believe  me,   when  a  man  utters 


Worship,  227 

the  responses  aloud,  "he  awakens  his  own  thoughts  and 
his  own  feelings,  too.  He  speaks  to  himself,  and  he 
hears  himself  remind  himself  of  God,  and  of  his  duty  to 
God,  and  acknowledge  himself  openly  (as  in  confirmation) 
bound  to  believe  and  do  what  he.  by  his  own  confession, 
has  assented  unto. 

Believe  me,  my  dear  friends,  this  is  no  mere  theory. 
It  is  to  me  a  matter  of  fact  and  experience.  I  cannot,  I 
have  long  found,  keep  my  attention  steady  during  a  ser- 
vice, if  I  do  not  make  the  resjDonses  aloud  ; — if  I  do  not 
join  in  with  my  voice,  I  find  my  thoughts  wandering  ; 
and  I  am  bound  to  suppose  that  the  case  is  the  same 
with  you.  Do  not,  therefore,  think  me  impertinent  or 
interfering,  if  I  ask  you  all  to  take  your  due  share  in 
worshipping  God  in  this  church  with  your  voices,  as  well 
as  with  your  hearts.  Let  these  services  be  more  lively, 
more  earnest,  more  useful  to  us  all  than  they  have  been, 
by  making  them  more  a  worship  of  the  whole  congrega- 
tion, and  not  of  the  minister  alone.  I  have  read  of  a 
great  church  in  the  East,  in  days  long,  long  ago,  in 
which  the  responses  of  the  vast  congregation  were  so 
unanimous,  so  loud,  that  they  sounded  (says  the  old 
writer)  like  a  clap  of  thunder.  That  is  too  much  to 
expect  in  our  little  country  church  :  but  at  least,  I  beg 
you,  take  such-  an  open  part  in  the  responses,  that  you 
shall  all  feel  that  you  are  really  worshi2)ping  together 
the  same  God  and  Christ,  with  the  same  heart  and  mind; 
and  that  if  a  stranger  shall  come  in,  he  may  say  in  his 
heart  :  Here  are  people  who  are  in  earnest,  who  know 
what  they  are  about,  and  are  not  ashamed  of  trying  to 
do  it ;  people  who  evidently  mean  what  they  say,  and 
therefore  say  what  they  mean. 


SERMON    XXV. 

THE    PEACE    OF    GOD. 

Baltimore,  U.S.,  1874.     Westminster  Abbey.    November  8, 1874. 

CoLOSsiANS.  iii.  15. 
**Let  the  peace  of  God  rule  in  your  hearts." 

The  peace  of  Gocl.  Tbat  is  what  the  priest  will  invoke 
for  you  all,  when  you  leave  this  abbey.  Do  you  know 
what  it  is  ?  Whether  you  do  or  not,  let  me  tell  you  in 
a  few  words,  what  I  seem  to  myself  to  have  learned  con- 
cerning that  peace.  What  it  is  'i  how  we  can  obtain 
it  ?  and  why  so  many  do  not  obtain  it,  and  are,  there- 
fore, not  at  peace  ? 

It  is  worth  while  to  do  so.  For  these  are  not  peace- 
ful times.  The  peace  of  God  is  rare  among  us.  Some 
say  that  it  is  rarer  than  it  was.  I  know  not  how  that 
may  be  ;  but  I  see  all  manner  of  causes  at  work  around 
us  which  should  make  it  rare.  We  live  faster  than  our 
forefathers.  We  hurry,  we  bustle,  we  travel,  we  are 
eager  for  daily,  almost  for  hourly  news  from  every 
quarter,  as  if  the  world  could  not  get  on  without  us,  or 
we  without  knowing  a  hundred  facts  which  merely  satisfy 
the  curiosity  of  the  moment ;  and  as  if  the  great  God 
could  not  take  excellent  care  of  us  all  meanwhile. 
We  are  eager,  too,  to  get  money,  and  get  more  money 


The  Peace  of  God.  229 

still — piercing  ourselves  through  too  often,  as  the  Apostle 
warned  us — with  many  sorrows,  and  falling  into  foolish 
and  hurtful  lusts,  which  drown  men  in  destruction  and 
perdition.  We  are  luxurious  — more  and  more  fond  of 
show ;  more  apt  to  live  up  to  our  incomes,  and  probably 
a  little  beyond ;  more  and  more  craving  for  this  or  that 
gew-gaw,  especially  in  dress  and  ornament,  which  if  our 
neighbour  has,  we  must  have  too,  or  we  shall  be  morti- 
fied, envious.  Nay,  so  strong  is  this  temper  of  rivalry, 
of  allowing  no  superiors,  grown  in  us,  that  we  have  made 
now-a-days  a  god  of  what  used  to  be  considered  the 
basest  of  all  vices — the  vice  of  envy — and  dignify  it 
with  the  names  of  equality  and  independence.  Men  in 
this  temper  of  mind  cannot  be  at  peace.  They  are  not 
content  ;  they  cannot  be  content. 

But  with  what  are  they  not  content  ?  That  is  a 
question  worth  asking.  For  there  is  a  discontent  (as  I 
have  told  you  ere  noAv)  which  is  noble,  manful,  heroic, 
and  divine.  Just  as  there  is  a  discontent  which  is  base, 
mean,  unmanly,  earthly — sometimes  devilish.  There 
is  a  discontent  which  is  certain,  sooner  or  later,  to 
bring  with  it  the  peace  of  God.  There  is  a  discon- 
tent which  drives  the  peace  of  God  away,  for  ever  and  a 
day.  And  the  noble  and  peace-bringing  discontent  is 
to  be  discontented  with  ourselves,  as  very  few  are.  And 
the  mean  peace-destroying  discontent  is  to  be  discon- 
tented with  things  around  us,  as  too  many  are.  Now, 
my  friends,  I  cannot  see  into  your  hearts ;  and  I 
ought  not  to  see.  For  if  I  saw,  I  should  be  tempted 
to  judge  ;  and  if  I  judged,  I  should  most  certainly  judge 
rashly,  shallovvly,  and  altogether  wrong.      Therefore  exa- 


230  The  Peace  of  God. 

mine  yourselves,  and  judge  yourselves  in  this  matter. 
Ask  yourselves  each,  Am  I  at  peace  ?  And  if  not,  then 
apply  to  yourselves  the  rule  of  old  Epictetus,  the  heroic 
slave,  who,  heathen  though  he  was,  sought  God,  and  the 
peace  of  God,  and  found  them,  doubt  it  not,  long,  long 
ago.  Ask  yourselves  with  Epictetus,  Am  I  discontented 
with  things  which  are  in  my  own  power,  or  with  things 
which  are  not  in  my  own  power  ? — that  is,  discontented 
with  myself,  or  with  things  which  are  not  myself  ?  Am 
I  discontented  with  myself,  or  with  things  about  me, 
and  outside  of  me  ?  Consider  this  last  question  well,  if 
you  wish  to  be  true  Christians,  true  philosophers,  and, 
indeed,  true  men  and  women. 

But  what  is  it  that  troubles  you  ?  What  is  it  you 
want  altered  ?  On  what  have  you  set  your  heart  and 
affections  ?  Is  it  something  outside  you  ? — something 
which  is  not  you  yourself?  If  so,  there  is  no  use  in 
tormenting  your  soul  about  it ;  for  it  is  not  in  your  own 
i:)ower,  and  you  will  never  alter  it  to  your  liking  ;  and 
more,  you  need  not  alter  it,  for  you  are  not  resj)onsible 
for  it.  God  sends  it  as  it  is,  for  better,  for  worse,  and 
you  must  make  up  your  "inind  to  what  God  sends.  Do 
I  mean  that  we  are  to  submit  slavishly  to  circumstances, 
like  dumb  animals  ?  Heaven  forbid.  We  are  not,  like 
Epictetus,  slaves,  but  free  men.  And  we  are  made  in 
God's  image,  and  have  each  our  spark,  however  dim,  o^. 
that  creative  genius,  that  power  of  creating  or  of  alter- 
ing circumstances,  by  which  God  made  all  worlds  ;  and 
to  use  that,  is  of  our  very  birthright,  or  what  would  all 
education,  progress,  civilisation  be,  save  rebellion  against 
God  ?     But  when  we  have  done  our  utmost,  how  little 


The  Peace  of  God.  231 

shall  we  have  done !  Canst  thou, — asks  our  Lord,  looking 
with  loving  sadness  on  the  hurry  and  the  struggle  of  the 
human  anthill — canst  thou  by  taking  thought  add  one 
cubit  to  thy  stature  ?  Why,  is  there  a  wise  man  or 
woman  in  this  abbey,  past  fifty  years  of  age,  who  does 
not  know  that,  in  spite  of  all  their  toil  and  struggle, 
they  have  gone  not  whither  they  willed,  but  whither 
God  willed  ?  Have  they  not  found  out  that  for  one 
circumstance  of  their  lives  which  they  could  alter,  there 
have  been  twenty  which  they  could  not,  some  born  with 
them,  some  forced  on  them  by  an  overruling  Providence, 
irresistible  indeed — but,  as  I  hold,  most  loving  and  most 
fatherl}^,  though  often  severe — even  to  agony — but  irre- 
sistible still — till  what  they  have  really  gained  by  fight- 
ing circumstance,  however  valiantly,  has  been  the  moral 
gain,  the  gain  in  character  ? — the  power  to  live  the 
heroic  life,  which 

"  Is  not  as  idle  ore, 
But  heated  hot  with  burning  fears, 
And  bathed  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 
And  batter'd,  with  the  shocks  of  doom, 
To  shape  and  use." 

Ah  !  if  a  man  be  learning  that  lesson,  which  is  the 
primer  of  eternal  life,  then  I  hardly  pity  him,  though  I 
see  him  from  youth  to  age  tearing  with  weak  hands  at 
the  gates  of  brass,  and  beating  his  soul's  wings  to  pieces 
against  the  bars  of  the  iron  cage.  But,  alas !  the 
majority  of  mankind  tear  at  the  gates  of  brass,  and 
beat  against  the  iron  cage,  with  no  such  good  purpose, 
and  therefore  with  no  such  good  result.  They  fight 
with  circumstances,  not  that  they  may  become  better 
men  themselves,  not  that  they  may  right  the  wrongs 


232  The  Peace  of  God. 

or  elevate  the  souls  of  their  fellow-men,  not  even 
that  they  may  fulfil  the  sacred  duty  of  maintaining,  and 
educating,  and  providing  for  the  children  whom  they 
have  brought  into  the  world,  and  for  whom  they  are 
responsible  alike  to  God  and  to  man  ;  but  simply  be- 
cause circumstances  are  disagreeable  to  them  ;  because 
the  things  around  them  do  not  satisfy  their  covetous- 
ness,  their  luxury,  their  ambition,  their  vanity.  And 
therefore  the  majority  of  mankind  want  to  be,  and 
to  do,  and  to  have  a  hundred  things  which  are  not 
in  their  own  power,  and  of  which  they  have  no  proof 
that  God  intends  to  give  them  ;  no  proof  either  that  if 
they  had  them,  they  would  make  right  use  of  them,  and 
certainly  no  proof  at  all  that  if  they  had  them  they 
would  find  peace.  They  war  and  fight,  and  have  not, 
because  they  ask  not.  They  ask,  and  have  not,  because 
they  ask  amiss,  to  consume  it  on  their  lusts ;  and  so 
they  spend  their  lives  without  peace,  longing,  struggling 
for  things  outside  them,  the  greater  part  of  which  they 
do  not  get,  because  the  getting  them  is  not  in  their 
o^\Ti  power,  and  which  if  they  got  they  could  not  keep, 
for  they  can  carry  nothing  away  with  them  when  they 
die,  neither  can  their  pomp  follow  them.  And  therefore 
does  man  walk  in  a  vain  shadow,  and  disquiet  himself 
in  vain,  looking  for  peace  where  it  is  not  to  be  found — 
in  everything  and  anything  save  in  his  own  heart,  in 
duty,  and  in  God. 

But  happy  are  they  who  are  discontented  with  the 
divine  discontent,  discontented  with  themselves.  Happy 
are  they  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness,  that 
they  may  become  righteous  and  good  men.      Happy  are 


The  Peace  of  God,  233 

they  who  have  set  their  hearts  on  the  one  thing  which 
is  in  their  own  power — being  better  than  they  are,  and 
doing  better  than  they  do.  Happy  are  they  who  long 
and  labour  after  the  true  riches,  which  neither  mobs  nor 
tyrants,  man  nor  devil,  prosperity  nor  adversity,  or  any 
chance  or  change  of  mortal  life,  can  take  from  them — ■ 
the  true  and  eternal  wealth,  which  is  the  Spirit  of  God. 
The  man,  I  say,  who  has  set  his  heart  on  being  good, 
has  set  his  heart  on  the  one  thing  which  is  in  his  own 
power  ;  the  one  thing  which  depends  wholly  and  solely 
on  his  own  will ;  the  one  thing  which  he  can  have  if 
he  chooses,  for  it  is  written,  ''If  ye  then  being  evil, 
know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how 
much  more  sliall  your  heavenly  Father  give  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him  ? "  Moreover,  he  has  set 
his  heart  on  the  one  thing  which  cannot  be  taken  from 
him.  God  will  not  take  it  from  him  ;  and  man,  and 
fortune,  and  misfortune,  cannot  take  it  from  him. 
Poverty,  misery,  disease,  death  itself,  cannot  make  him 
a  worse  man,  cannot  make  him  less  just,  less  true,  less 
pure,  less  charitable,  less  high-minded,  less  like  Christ, 
and  less  like  God. 

Therefore  he  is  at  peace,  for  he  is,  as  it  were,  in- 
trenched in  an  impregnable  fortress,  against  all  men  and 
all  evil  influences.  And  that  castle  is  his  own  soul. 
And  the  keeper  of  that  castle  is  none  other  than  Al- 
mighty God,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  to  whose  keeping 
he  has  committed  his  soul,  as  unto  a  faithful  and  merci- 
ful Saviour,  able  to  keep  to  the  utterm.ost  that  which  is 
committed  to  Him  in  faith  and  holiness. 

Therefore  that  man  is  at  peace  with  himself,  for  his 


234  The  Peace  of  God. 

conscience  tells  liim  that  he  is,  if  not  doing  his  best,  yet 
trying  to  do  his  best,  better  and  better  day  by  day.  He 
is  at  peace  with  all  the  world  ;  for  most  men  are  longing 
and  quarrelling  for  pleasant  things  outside  them,  for 
which  he  does  not  greatly  care,  while  he  is  longing  and 
striving  for  good  things  inside  him  in  his  own  heart  and 
soul ;  and  so  the  world  goes  one  way,  and  he  another, 
and  their  desires  do  not  interfere  with  each  other. 

But,  more,  that  man  is  at  peace  with  God.  He  is  at 
peace  with  God  the  Father ;  for  he  is  behaving  as  the 
Father  wishes  His  children  to  behave.  He  is  at  peace 
with  God  the  Son ;  for  he  is  trying  to  do  that  which  God 
the  Son  did  when  He  came  not  to  do  His  own  will,  but 
His  Father's  ;  not  to  grasp  at  anything  for  himself,  but 
simply  to  sacrifice  himself  for  duty,  for  the  good  of  man. 
And  he  is  at  peace  with  God  the  Holy  Spirit ;  for  he  is- 
obeying  the  gracious  inspirations  of  that  Spirit,  and 
growing  a  better  man  day  by  day.  And  so  the  peace 
of  God  keeps  that  man's  heart  free  from  vain  desires  and 
angry  passions,  and  his  mind  from  those  false  and  foolish 
judgments  which  make  the  world  think  things  important 
which  are  quite  unimportant ;  and,  again,  fancy  things 
unimportant  which  are  more  important  to  them  than  the 
riches  of  the  whole  world. 

My  dear  friends,  take  my  words  home  with  you,  and 
if  you  wish  for  the  only  true  and  sound  peace,  which  is 
the  peace  of  God,  do  your  duty.  Try  to  be  as  good  as 
you  can,  each  in  his  station  in  life.      So  help  you  God. 

Take  an  example  from  the  soldier  on  the  march  ;  and 
if  you  do  that,  you  will  all  understand  what  I  mean. 
The  bad  soldier  has  no  peace,  just  because  he  troubles 


The  Peace  of  God.  235 

himself  about  things  outside  himself,  and  not  in  his  own 
power.  ''  Will  the  officers  lead  us  right  ? "  That  is  not 
in  his  power.  Let  him  go  where  the  officers  lead  him, 
and  do  his  own  duty.  ''  Will  he  get  food  enough,  water 
enough,  care  enough,  if  he  is  wounded  ? "  I  hope  and 
trust  in  God  he  will ;  but  that  is  not  in  his  own  power. 
Let  him  take  that,  too,  as  it  comes,  and  do  his  duty. 
"  Will  he  be  praised,  rewarded,  mentioned  in  the  news- 
papers, if  he  fights  well  ? "  That,  too,  is  not  in  his 
own  power.  Let  him  take  that,  too,  as  it  comes,  and 
do  his  duty ;  and  so  of  everything  else.  If  the  soldier 
on  the  march  torments  himself  with  these  matters  which 
are  not  in  his  own  power,  he  is  the  man  who  will  be 
troublesome  and  mutinous  in  time  of  peace,  and  in  time 
of  war  will  be  the  first  to  run  away.  He  will  tell  you, 
"A  man  must  have  justice  done  him;  a  man  must  see 
fair  play  for  himself;  a  man  must  think  of  himself." 
Poor  fool  !  He  is  not  thinking  of  himself  all  the 
while,  but  of  a  number  of  things  which  are  outside  him, 
circumstances  which  stand  round  him,  and  outside  him, 
and  are  not  himself  at  all.  Because  he  thinks  of  them 
— the  things  outside  him — he  is  a  coward  or  a  mutineer, 
while  he  fancies  he  is  taking  care  of  himself — as  it  is 
written,  "  Whosoever  shall  seek  to  save  his  life  shall 
lose  it." 

But  if  the  man  will  really  think  of  himself,  of  that 
which  is  inside  him,  of  his  own  character,  his  own 
honour,  his  own  duty — then  he  will  say.  Well  fed  or  ill 
fed,  well  led  or  ill  led,  praised  and  covered  with  medals, 
or  neglected  and  forgotten,  and  dying  in  a  ditch,  I,  by 
myself  I,  am  the  same  man,  and   I  have  the  same  work 


236  The  Peace  of  God. 

to  do.  I  have  to  be — myself,  and  I  have  to  do — my 
duty.  So  help  me  God.  And  therefore,  so  help  me 
God,  I  will  be  discontented  with  no  person  or  thing, 
save  only  with  myself;  and  I  will  be  aiscontented  with 
myself,  not  when  I  have  left  undone  something  extra- 
ordinary, which  I  know  I  could  not  have  done,  but  only 
when  I  have  left  undone  something  ordinary,  some  plain 
duty  which  I  know  I  could  have  done,  had  I  asked  God 
to  help  me  to  do  it.  Then  in  that  soldier  would  be 
fulfilled — has  been  fulfilled,  thank  God,  a  thousand 
times,  by  men  who  lie  in  this  abbey,  and  by  men,  too, 
of  whom  we  never  heard,  ''whose  graves  are  scattered  far 
and  wide,  by  mount,  by  stream,  by  sea," — in  him  would 
be  fulfilled,  I  say,  the  words,  "  He  that  will  lose  his  life 
shall  save  it."  Then  would  he  have  in  his  heart,  and 
in  his  mind  likewise,  a  peace  which  victory  and  safety 
cannot  give,  and  which  defeat,  and  wounds,  ay,  death 
itself,  can  never  take  away. 

And  are  not  you,  too,  soldiers — soldiers  of  Jesus 
Christ?  Then  even  as  that  good  soldier,  you  may  be 
at  peace,  through  all  the  battles,  victories,  defeats  of 
mortal  life,  if  you  will  be  discontented  with  nothing  save 
yourselves,  and  vow,  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  the  one  oath 
which  is  no  blasphemy,  but  an  act  of  faith,  and  an  act 
of  prayer,  and  a  confession  of  the  true  theology — So  help 
me  God.  For  then  God  will  help  you.  Neither  you  nor 
I  know  how ;  and  I  am  sure  neither  you  nor  I  know  why 
— save  that  God  is  utterly  good.  God,  I  say,  will  help 
you,  by  His  Holy  Spirit  the  Comforter,  to  do  your  duty, 
and  to  be  at  peace.  And  then  the  peace  of  God  will 
rule  in  your  hearts  and  make  you  kings  to  God.      For 


The  Peace  of  God.  237 

He  will  enable  you  each  to  rule,  serene,  though  weary, 
over  a  kingdom — or,  alas  !  rather  a  mob,  the  most 
unruly,  the  most  unreasonable,  the  most  unstable,  and 
often  the  most  fierce,  which  you  are  like  to  meet  on 
earth.  To  rule,  I  say,  over  a  mob,  of  which  you  each 
must  needs  be  king  or  slave,  according  as  you  choose. 
And  what  is  that  mob  ?  What  but  your  own  faculties, 
your  own  emotions,  your  own  passions — in  one  word, 
your  own  selves  ?  Yes,  with  the  peace  of  God  ruling  in 
your  hearts,  you  will  be  able  to  become  what  without  it 
you  will  never  be — and  that  is — masters  of  yourselve?. 


SEEMON  XXVL 

SINS    OF    PARENTS    VISITED. 

Eversley.     I9th  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1868. 

EzEKiEL  xviii.  1-4. 

"The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  me  again,  saying,  What  mean  ye, 
that  ye  use  this  proverb  concerning  the  land  of  Israel,  saying,  The 
fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on 
edge?  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  ye  shall  not  have  occasion 
any  more  to  use  this  proverb  in  Israel.  Behold,  all  souls  are 
mine  ;  as  the  soul  of  the  father,  so  also  the  soul  of  the  son  is  mine : 
the  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die." 

This  is  a  precious  chapter,  and  a  comfortable  chapter 
likewise,  for  it  helps  us  to  clear  up  a  puzzle  which  has 
tormented  the  minds  of  men  in  all  ages  whenever  they 
have  thought  of  God,  and  of  whether  God  meant  them 
well,  or  meant  them  ill. 

For  all  men  have  been  tempted.  We  are  tempted  at 
times  to  say, — The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes,  and 
the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge.  That  is,  we  are 
punished  not  for  what  we  have  done  wrong,  but  for  what 
our  fathers  did  wrong.  One  man  says, — My  forefathers 
squandered  their  money,  and  I  am  punished  by  being 
poor.  Or,  my  forefathers  ruined  their  constitutions,  and, 
therefore,  I  am  weakly  and  sickly.  My  forefathers  were 
io-norant  and  reckless,  and,  therefore,  I  was  brought  up 
ignorant,  and  in  all  sorts  of  temptation.     And  so  men 


Sins  of  Parents  Visited,  239 

complain  of  their  ill-luck  and  bad  chance,  as  they  call  it, 
till  they  complain  of  God,  and  say,  as  the  Jews  said  in 
Ezekiel's  tnne,  God's  ways  are  unequal — partial — unfair. 
He  is  a  respecter  of  persons.  He  has  not  the  same 
rule  for  all  men.  He  starts  men  unequally  in  the  race 
of  life — some  heavily  weighted  with  their  father's  sins 
and  misfortunes,  some  helped  in  every  way  by  their 
father's  virtue  and  good  fortune — and  then  He  expects 
them  all  to  run  alike.  God  is  not  just  and  equal. 
And  then  some  go  on, — men  who  think  themselves 
philosophers,  but  are  none — to  say  things  concerning 
God  of  which  I  shall  say  nothing  here,  lest  I  put  into 
your  minds  foolish  thoughts,  which  had  best  be  kept 
out  of  them. 

But,  some  of  you  may  say,  Is  it  not  so  after  all  ?  Is 
it  not  true  ?  Is  not  God  harder  on  some  than  on  others? 
Does  not  God  punish  men  every  day  for  their  father's 
sins  \  Does  He  not  say  in  the  Second  Commandment 
that  He  will  do  so,  and  visit  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon 
the  children  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation ;  and 
how  can  you  make  that  agree  with  what  Ezekiel  says, — 
"  The  son  shall  not  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  father."  My 
dear  friends,  I  know  that  this  is  a  puzzle,  and  always 
has  been  one.  Like  the  old  puzzle  of  God's  fore- 
knowledge and  our  free  will,  which  seem  to  contradict 
each  other.  Like  the  puzzle  that  we  must  help  our- 
selves, and  yet  that  God  must  help  us,  which  seem  to 
contradict  each  other.  So  ^vith  this.  I  believe  of  it, 
as  of  the  two  others  I  just  mentioned,  that  there  is  no 
real  contradiction  between  the  two  cases  ;  and  that  some- 
when,  somehow,  somewhere,  in  the  world  to  come,  we 


240  Sins  of  Parents  Visited. 

shall  see  them  clearly  reconciled ;  and  justify  God  in  all 
His  dealings,  and  glorify  Him  in  all  His  ways.  But 
surely  already,  here,  now,  we  may  see  our  way  somewhat 
into  the  depths  of  this  mystery.  For  Christ  has  come 
to  give  us  light,  and  in  His  light  we  may  see  light,  even 
into  this  dark  matter. 

For  see  :  God  visits  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the 
children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation — but  of 
whom? — of  them  that  hate  Him.  Now,  by  those  who 
hate  God  is  meant,  those  who  break  His  commandments, 
and  are  bad  men.  If  so,  then,  I  say  that  God  is  not 
only  just  but  merciful,  in  visiting  the  sins  of  the  fathers 
on  the  children. 

For,  consider  two  cases.  Suppose  these  bad  men, 
from  father  to  son,  and  from  son  to  grandson,  go  on 
in  the  same  evil  ways,  and  are  incorrigible.  Then  is 
not  God  merciful  to  the  world  in  punishing  them, 
even  in  destroying  them  out  of  the  world,  where  they 
only  do  harm  ?  The  world  does  not  want  fools,  it 
wants  wise  men.  The  world  does  not  want  bad  men, 
it  wants  good  men ;  and  we  ought  to  thank  God,  if, 
by  His  eternal  laws.  He  gets  rid  of  bad  men  for  us ; 
and,  as  the  saying  is,  civilizes  them  off  the  face  of 
the  earth  in  the  third  or  fourth  generation.  And  God 
does  so.  If  a  family,  or  a  class,  or  a  whole  nation 
becomes  incorrigibly  profligate,  foolish,  base,  in  three  or 
four  generations  they  will  either  die  out  or  vanish.  They 
will  sink  to  the  bottom  of  society,  and  become  miserably 
poor,  weak,  and  of  no  influence,  and  so  unable  to  do  harm 
to  any  but  themselves.  "Whole  families  will  sink  thus. 
I  have  seen  it ;  you  may  have  seen  it.     Whole  nations 


Sins  of  Parents  Visited.  241 

will  sink  thus  ;  as  the  Jews  sank  in  Ezekiel's  time,  and 
again  in  our  Lord's  time  ;  and  be  conquered,  trampled 
on,  counted  for  nothing,  because  they  were  worth 
nothing. 

But  now  suppose,  again,  that  the  children,  when  their 
father's  sins  are  visited  on  them,  are  not  incorrigible. 
Suppose  they  are  like  the  wise  son  of  whom  Ezekiel 
speaks,  in  the  14th  verse,  who  seeth  all  his  father's  sins, 
and  considereth,  and  doeth  not  such  like — then  has  not 
God  been  merciful  and  kind  to  him  in  visiting  his  father's 
sins  on  him?  He  has.  God  is  justified  therein.  His  eternal 
laws  of  natural  retribution,  severe  as  they  are,  have 
worked  in  love  and  in  mercy,  if  they  have  taught  the 
young  man  the  ruinousness,  the  deadliness  of  sin.  Have 
the  father's  sins  made  the  son  poor  ?  Then  he  learns 
not  to  make  his  children  poor  by  his  sin.  Have  his 
father  s  sins  made  him  unhealthy  ?  Then  he  learns  not 
to  injure  his  children's  health.  Have  his  father's  sins 
kept  him  ignorant,  or  in  anywise  hindered  his  rise  in 
life  ?  Then  he  learns  the  value  of  a  good  education,  and, 
perhaps,  stints  himself  to  give  his  children  advantages 
which  he  had  not  himself — and,  as  sure  as  he  does  so, 
the  family  begins  to  rise  again  after  its  fall.  This  is  no 
fancy,  it  is  fact.  You  may  see  it.  I  have  seen  it,  thank 
God.  How  some  of  the  purest  and  noblest  women,  some 
of  the  ablest  and  most  right-minded  men,  will  spring  from 
families,  will  be  reared  in  households,  where  everything 
was  against  them — where  there  vras  everything  to  make 
them  profligate,  false,  reckless,  in  a  word — bad — except 
the  grace  of  God,  which  was  trying  to  make  them  good, 
and  succeeded  in  making  them  good  ;  and  how,  though 

Q 


242  Sins  of  Parents  Visited. 

tliey  have  felt  the  punishment  of  their  parents'  sins  upon 
them  in  many  ways  during  their  whole  life,  yet  that  has 
been  to  them  not  a  mere  punishment,  but  a  chastisement, 
a  purifying  medicine,  a  cross  to  be  borne,  which  only 
stirred  them  up  to  greater  watchfulness  against  sin,  to 
greater  earnestness  in  educating  their  children,  to  greater 
activity  and  energy  in  doing  right,  and  giving  their  chil- 
dren the  advantages  which  they  had  not  themselves.  And 
so  were  fulfilled  in  them  two  laws  of  God.  The  one 
which  Ezekiel  lays  down — that  the  bad  man's  son  who 
executes  God's  judgments  and  walks  in  God's  statutes 
shall  not  die  for  the  iniquity  of  his  father,  but  surely 
live  ;  and  the  other  law  which  Moses  la^^s  down — that 
God  shews  mercy  unto  thousands  of  generations,  as  I 
believe  it  means- — that  is,  to  son  after  father,  and  son 
after  father  again,  without  end — as  long  as  they  love 
Him  and  keep  His  commandments. 

1  do  not,  therefore,  see  that  there  is  any  real  contradic- 
tion between  what  Moses  says  in  the  second  command- 
ment and  what  Ezekiel  says  in  this  chapter.  They  are 
but  two  different  sides  of  the  same  truth  ;  and  Moses  i& 
shewing  the  Jews  one  side,  because  they  needed  most 
to  be  taught  that  in  his  time,  and  Ezekiel  showing 
them  the  other,  because  that  was  the  teaching  which 
they  needpd  most  then.  For  they  were  fancying  them- 
selves, in  theiy  calamities,  the  victims  of  some  blind 
^nd  cruel  fate,  ^i^nd  }iad  forgotten  that,  when  God 
said  that  He  visited  the  sins  pf  the  fathers  on  the 
children.  He  qualified  it  by  saying,  "  of  them  that 
hate  Me." 

Therefore,  be   hopeful   about  yourselves,  and  hopeful 


Sins  of  Parents  Visited.  243 

about  your  children  after  you.  If  any  one  here  feels — • 
I  am  fallen  very  low  in  the  world — here  all  has  been 
so  much  against  me — my  parents  were  the  ruin  of  me — 
Let  him  remember  this  one  word  of  Ezekiel.  ''  Have  I 
any  pleasure  at  all  that  the  wicked  should  die?  saith  the 
Lord  God:  and  not  that  he  should  return  from  his  ways, 
and  live  ? "  Let  him  turn  from  his  father's  evil  ways, 
and  do  that  which  is  lawful  and  right,  and  then  he  can 
say  with  the  Prophet,  in  answer  to  all  the  strokes  of 
fortune  and  the  miseries  of  circumstance,  ''Rejoice  not 
against  me,  0  mine  enemy  :  when  I  fall  I  shall 
arise."  Provided  he  will  remember  that  God  requires  of 
all  men  something,  which  is,  to  be  as  good  as  they  can 
be  ;  then  he  may  remember  also  that  our  Lord  Him- 
self says,  ''Unto  whomsoever  much  is  given,  of  him  shall 
much  be  required  ; "  implying  that  to  whom  little  is 
given,  of  him  will  little  be  required.  God's  ways  are 
not  unequal.  He  has  one  equal,  fair,  and  just  rule  for 
every  human  being ;  and  that  is  perfect  understanding, 
perfect  sympathy,  perfect  good  will,  and  therefore  perfect 
justice  and  perfect  love. 

And  if  any  one  of  you  answers  in  his  heart — these 
are  good  words,  and  all  very  well :  but  they  come  too 
late.  I  am  too  far  gone.  I  ate  the  sour  grapes  in  my 
3outh,  and  my  teeth  must  be  on  edge  for  ever  and  ever. 
I  have  been  a  bad  man,  or  I  have  been  a  foolish  woman 
too  many  years  to  mend  now.  I  am  down,  and  down  I 
must  be.  I  have  made  my  bed,  and  I  must  lie  on  it, 
and  die  on  it  too.  Oh  my  dear  brother  or  sister  in 
Christ,  whoever  you  are  who  says  that,  unsay  it  agaia» 
for  it  is  not  true.   Ezekiel  tells  you  that  it  is  not  true. 


244  •S^ns  of  Parentis  Visited, 

and  one  greater  than  Ezekiel,  Jesus  Christ,  your  Saviour, 
your  Lord,  your  God,  tells  you  it  is  not  true. 

For  what  happens,  by  God's  eternal  and  unchangeable 
laws  of  retribution,  to  a  whole  nation,  or  a  whole  family, 
ma}^  happen  to  you — to  each  individual  man.  They 
fall  by  sin  ;  they  rise  again  by  repentance  and  amend- 
ment. They  may  rise  punished  by  their  sins,  and 
punished  for  a  long  time,  heavily  weighted  by  the 
consequences  of  their  own  folly,  and  heavily  weighted 
for  a  long  time.  But  they  rise — they  enter  into  their 
new  life  weak  and  wounded,  from  their  own  fault.  But 
they  enter  in.  And  from  that  day  things  begin  to  mend 
■ — the  weather  begins  to  clear,  the  soil  begins  to  yield 
again — punishment  gradually  ceases  when  it  has  done 
its  work,  the  weight  lighteus,  the  wounds  heal,  the 
weakness  strengthens,  and  by  God's  grace  within  them, 
and  by  God's  providence  outside  them,  they  are  made 
men  of  again,  and  saved.  So  you  will  surely  find  it  in 
the  experience  of  life. 

No  doubt  in  general,  in  most  cases, 

The  child  is  father  of  the  man 
for  good  and  evil.  A  pious  and  virtuous  youth  helps, 
by  sure  laws  of  God,  towards  a  pious  and  virtuous  old 
age.  And  on  the  other  hand,  an  ungodly  and  profligate 
youth  leads,  by  the  same  laws,  toward  an  ungodly  and 
profligate  old  age.  That  is  the  law.  But  there  is 
another  law  which  may  stop  that  law — just  as  the  stone 
falls  to  the  ground  by  the  natural  law  of  weight, 
and  yet  you  may  stop  that  law  by  using  the  law  of 
bodily  strength,  and  holding  it  up  in  your  hand.  And 
what  is  the  gracious  law  which  will  save  you  from  the 


Sins  of  Parents  Visited.  245 

terrible  law  which  will  make  you  go  on  from  worse  to 
worse?  It  is  this, — "when  the  wicked  man  turneth  away 
from  his  wickedness  that  he  hath  committed,  and  doeth 
that  which  is  lawful  and  right,  he  shall  save  his  soul 
alive."  It  is  not  said  that  his  soul  shall  come  in  a 
moment  to  perfect  health  and  strength.  No.  There 
are  old  bad  habits  to  be  got  rid  of,  old  ties  to  be 
broken,  old  debts  (often  worse  debts  than  any  money 
debts)  to  be  paid.  But  he  shall  save  his  soul  alive. 
His  soul  shall  not  die  of  its  disease.  It  shall  be  saved. 
It  shall  come  to  life,  and  gradually  mend  and  be  cured, 
and  grow  from  strength  to  strength,  as  a  sick  man  mends 
day  by  day  after  a  deadly  illness,  slowly  it  may  be,  but 
surely  : — for  how  can  you  fail  of  being  cured  if  your 
physician  is  none  other  than  Jesus  Christ  your  Lord  and 
your  God  ? 

Oh,  recollect  that  last  word.  If  you  will  but  recollect 
tbat,  you  will  never  despair.  How  dare  any  man  sav — 
Bad  I  am,  and  bad  I  must  remain — while  the  God  who 
made  heaven  and  earth  offers  to  make  you  good  ?  Who 
dare  say, — I  cannot  amend — when  God  Himself  offers 
to  amend  you  ?  Who  dare  say, — I  have  no  strength  to 
amend — when  God  offers  to  give  you  strength,  strength 
of  His  strength,  and  life  of  His  life,  even  His  Holy  Spirit? 
Who  dare  say, — God  has  given  me  up;  He  has  a  grudge 
against  me  which  He  will  not  lay  by,  an  anger  against 
me  which  cannot  be  appeased,  a  score  against  me  which 
will  never  be  wiped  out  of  His  book  ?  Oh  foolish  and 
faint-hearted  soul.  Look,  look  at  Christ  hanging  on  His 
cross,  and  see  there  what  God's  grudge,  God's  anger,  God's 
score  of  your  sins  is  like.      Like  love  unspeakable,  and 


246  Sins  of  Parents  Visited. 

nothing  else.  To  wash  out  your  sins,  He  spared  not  His 
only  begotten  Son,  but  freely  gave  Him  for  you,  to  shew 
you  that  God,  so  far  from  hating  you,  has  loved  you ; 
that  so  far  from  being  your  enemy,  He  was  your  father  ; 
that  so  far  from  willing  the  death  of  a  sinner.  He  willed 
that  you  and  every  sinner  should  turn  from  his  wicked- 
ness and  live.  For  that,  Jesus  the  only  begotten  Son  of 
God,  came  down  and  preached,  and  sorrowed,  and 
suffered,  and  died  upon  the  cross.  He  died  that  you 
ma}^  live  ;  He  suffered  that  you  may  be  saved  ;  He  paid 
the  debt,  because  you  could  never  pay  it ;  He  bore  your 
sins  upon  the  cross,  that  you  might  not  have  to  bear 
them  for  ever  and  for  ever  in  eternal  death.  Now,  even 
if  you  suffer  somewhat  in  this  life  for  your  sins,  that 
suffering  is  not  punishment,  but  wholesome  chastise- 
ment, as  when  a  father  chastens  the  son  in  whom 
he  delighteth.  All  He  asks  of  you  is  to  long  and  tr}^  to 
give  up  your  sins,  for  He  will  help  you  to  give  them  up. 
All  He  asks  of  you  is  to  long  and  try  to  lead  a  new  life, 
for  He  will  give  you  power  to  lead  a  new  life.  Oh,  say 
not — I  cannot — when  Christ  who  died  for  you  says  you 
can.  Say  not — I  dare  not — when  Christ  bids  you  dare 
come  boldly  to  His  throne  of  grace.  Say  not — I  must 
be  as  I  am — when  Christ  died  that  you  should  not  be 
as  you  are.  Say  not — there  is  no  hope — when  Christ 
died  and  rose  again,  and  reigns  for  ever,  to  give  hope  to 
you  and  all  mankind,  that  when  the  wicked  man  turns 
away  from  his  wickedness  that  he  has  committed,  and 
doetli  that  which  is  lawful  and  right,  he  shall  save  his 
soul  alive,  and  all  his  transgressions  shall  not  be  men- 
tioned unto  him,  but  in  ^'s  righteousness  that  he  hath 
done  shall  he  live. 


SERMON    XXVIl. 

AGREE    WITH    THINE   ADVERSARY. 
Eversley,  1861.     Windsor  Castle,  1867. 

St.  Matthew  v.  25,  26. 

**  Agree  u'ith  thine  adversary  quickly,  whiles  thou  art  in  the  way  with 
him  ;  lest  at  any  time  the  adversary  deliver  thee  to  the  judge,  and 
the  judge  deliver  thee  to  the  officer,  and  thou  be  cast  into  prison. 
Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  Thou  shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence, 
till  thou  hast  paid  the  uttermost  farthing." 

This  parable  our  Lord  seems  to  have  spoken  at  least 
twice,  as  He  did  several  others.  For  we  find  it  also  in 
the  12th  chapter  of  St.  Luke.  But  it  is  there  part  of 
quite  a  different  discourse.  I  tb.ink  that  by  seeing 
what  it  means  there,  we  shall  see  more  clearly  what  it 
means  here. 

Our  Lord  there  is  speaking  of  the  sins  of  the  whole 
Jewish  nation.  Here  He  is  speaking  rather  of  each 
man's  private  sins.  But  He  applies  the  same  parable  to 
both.  He  gives  the  same  warning  to  both.  Not  to  go 
too  far  on  the  wrong  road,  lest  they  come  to  a  point 
where  they  cannot  turn  back,  but  must  go  on  to  just 
punishment,  if  not  to  utter  destruction. 

That  is  what  He  warned  the  Jews  all  through  the  latter 
part  of  the  1 2  th  chapter  of  Luke.  He  will  come  again,  He 
says,  a^^  an  hour  they  do  not  think  of,  and  tljcn  if  their 


248  Agree  with  thine  Adversary. 

elders,  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  are  going  on  as  thej 
are  nov/,  beating  the  man-servants  and  maid-servanta,  I 
ana  eating  and  drinking  with  the  drunkeo,  oppressing 
the  people,  and  living  in  luxury  and  profligacy.  He  will 
cut  them  asunder,  and  appoint  them  tleir  portion  with 
the  unbelievers. 

In  this,  and  in  many  other  parables,  He  had  been 
warning  them  that  their  ruin  was  near ;  and,  at  last, 
turning  to  the  whole  crowd.  He  appeals  to  them,  to 
their  common  sense.  "  When  ye  see  a  cloud  rise  out  of 
the  west,  straightway  ye  say,  There  cometh  a  shower ; 
and  so  it  is.  And  when'  ye  see  the  south  wind  blow, 
ye  say,  There  will  be  heat ;  and  it  cometh  to  pass.  Ye 
hypocrites,  ye  can  discern  the  face  of  the  sky  and  of  the 
earth  ;  but  how  is  it  that  ye  do  not  discern  this  time  ? 
If  God  can  give  you  common  sense  about  one  thing,  why 
not  about  another  ?  Why  can  you  not  open  your  eyes 
and  of  yourselves  judge  what  is  right  ?  "  Agree  with 
thine  adversary  quickly,  whiles  thou  art  in  the  way 
with  him  ;  lest  at  any  time  the  adversary  deliver  thee  to 
the  judge,  and  the  judge  deliver  thee  to  the  officer,  and 
thou  be  cast  into  prison.  Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  Thou 
shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence,  till  thou  hast  paid 
the  uttermost  farthing." 

So  He  spoke  ;  and  the3'  did  not  fully  understand 
what  He  meant.  They  thought  that  by  their  adversary 
He  meant  the  Roman  governor.  For  they  immediately 
began  to  talk  to  Him  about  some  Galileans  whose  blood 
Pilate,  the  Roman  governor,  had  mingled  with  their  sac- 
rifices (I  suppose  in  some  of  those  wars  which  were  con- 
tinually breaking  out  in  Judea).    I  think  He  meant  more 


Agree  with  thine  Adversary,  249 

tlian  that.  "  Suppose  ye  that  these  Galilseans  were 
sinners  above  all  the  GalilEeans  ?  Except  ye  repent,  ye 
shall  all  likewise  perish."  As  much  as  to  say,  though 
ye  did  not  rebel  against  the  Romans  like  these  Galilaeans, 
vou  have  your  sins,  which  will  ruin  yoii.  As  long  as 
vou  are  h3^pocrites,  with  your  mouths  full  of  the  cant  of 
religion,  and  your  hearts  full  of  all  mean  and  spiteful 
passions  ;  as  long  as  you  cannot  of  yourselves  discern 
what  is  right,  and  have  lost  conscience,  and  the  everlast- 
ing distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  so  long  are 
you  walking  blindfold  to  ruin.  There  is  an  adversary 
against  you,  who  will  surely  deliver  you  to  the  judge 
some  day,  and  then  it  will  be  too  late  to  cry  for  mercy. 
And  who  was  that  adversary  ?  Who  but  the  everlasting 
law  of  God,  which  says.  Thou  shalt  do  justly  ? — and  you 
Jews  are  utterly  unjust,  false,  covetous,  and  unrighteous. 
Thou  shalt  love  all  men  ;  and  you  are  cruel  and  spiteful, 
hating  each  other,  and  making  all  mankind  hate  you. 
Thou  shalt  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ;  and  you  Jews 
are  walking  proudly  with  God  ;  fancying  that  God  be- 
longs only  to  you ;  that  because  you  are  His  chosen  people, 
He  will  let  you  commit  every  sin  you  choose,  as  long  as 
you  keep  His  name  on  your  lips,  and  keep  up  an  empty 
worship  of  Him  in  the  temple.  That  is  your  adversary, 
the  everfasting  moral  law  of  God.  And  who  is  the  Judge 
but  God  Himself,  who  is  set  on  His  throne  judging  right, 
while  you  are  doing  wrong  ?  And  who  is  the  officer,  to 
whom  that  judge  will  deliver  you  ?  There  indeed 
the  Jews  were  right.  It  was  the  Romans  whom 
God  appointed  to  punish  them  for  their  sins.  All 
which   our  Lord  had   foretold,  as  all  the   world  knows. 


250  Agree  with  thine  Adversary, 

came  true  forty  years  after  in  that  horrible  siege  of 
Jerusalem,  which  the  Jews  brought  on  themselves  en- 
tirely by  their  own  folly,  and  pride,  and  wicked  lawless- 
ness. In  that  siege,  by  famine  and  pestilence,  by  the 
Romans'  swords,  by  crucifixion,  and  by  each  other's  hands 
(for  the  different  factions  were  murdering  each  other 
wholesale  up  to  the  very  day  Jerusalem  was  taken), 
thousands  of  Jews  perished  horribly,  and  the  rest  were 
sold  as  slaves  over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  and  led 
away  into  a  captivity  from  which  they  could  not  escape 
till  they  had  paid  the  uttermost  farthing. 

Now  let  us  look  at  this  same  parable  in  the  5th  chapter 
of  St  Matthew.  Remember  first  that  it  is  part  of  the  ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  which  is  all  about  not  doctrine,  but 
morality,  the  law  of  right  and  wrong,  the  law  of  justice 
and  mercy.  You  will  see  then  that  our  Lord  is  preach- 
ing against  the  same  sins  as  in  the  1 2th  chapter  of  St. 
Luke.  Against  a  hypocritical  religion,  joined  with  a 
cruel  and  unjust  heart.  Those  of  old  time,  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  said  merely,  Thou  shalt  not  kill.  And  as 
long  as  thou  dost  not  kill  thy  brother,  thou  mayest  hate 
him  in  thy  heart  and  speak  evil  of  him  with  thy  lips. 
But  our  Lord  says.  Not  so.  Whosoever  is  angry  with 
his  brother  without  a  cause  is  in  danger  of  the  judgment. 
Whosoever  shall  say  to  him  Raca,  or  worthless  fellow, 
shall  speak  insolently,  brutally,  cruelly,  scornfully  to 
him,  is  in  danger  of  the  council.  But  whosoever  shall 
say  unto  him.  Thou  fool,  is  in  danger  of  hell  fire.  For 
using  that  word  to  the  Jews,  so  says  the  Talmud  ic  tradi- 
tion, Moses  and  Aaron  were  shut  out  of  the  land  of 
promise,   for  it  means  an    infidel,  an  atheist,  a  godless 


Agree  with  thine  Adversary.  251 

man,  or  rebel  against  God,  as  it  is  written,  "  The 
fool  hath  said  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God."  Who- 
soever shall  curse  his  brother,  who  is  trying  to  be  a 
good  Christian  man  to  the  best  of  his  light  and  power, 
because  he  does  not  happen  to  agree  with  him  in  all 
things,  and  call  liim  a  heretic,  and  an  infidel,  and  an 
atheist,  and  an  enemy  of  God — he  is  in  danger  of  hell 
fire.  Let  him  agree  with  his  adversary  quickly,  whiles 
he  is  in  the  way  with  him,  lest  he  be  delivered  to  God 
the  judge,  and  to  the  just  punishment  of  him  who  has 
not  done  justly,  not  loved  mercy,  not  walked  humbly 
with  his  God. 

But  who  is  the  adversary  of  that  man,  and  who  is 
the  judge,  and  who  is  the  officer  ?  Our  adversary 
in  every  case,  whenever  we  do  wrong,  knowingly  or 
unknowingly,  is  the  Law  of  God,  the  everlasting  laws, 
by  which  God  has  ordered  every  thing  in  heaven  and 
earth  ;  and  as  often  as  we  break  one  of  these  laws, 
let  us  agree  with  it  again  as  quickly  as  we  can,  lest  it 
hale  us  before  God,  the  judge  of  all,  and  He  deliver 
us  over  to  His  officer — to  those  powers  of  nature  and 
powers  of  spirit,  which  He  has  appointed  as  ministers 
of  His  vengeance,  and  they  cast  us  into  some  prison  of 
necessary  and  unavoidable  misery,  from  which  we  shall 
never  escape  till  we  have  paid  the  uttermost  farthing. 

Do  you  not  understand  me  ?  Then  I  will  give  you  an 
example.  Suppose  the  case  of  a  man  hurting  his  health 
by  self-indulgence  of  any  kind.  Then  his  adversaries 
are  the  laws  of  health.  Let  him  agree  with  them 
quickly,  while  he  has  the  power  of  conquering  his  bad 
habits,  by  recovering  his  health,  lest  the  time  come  when 


252  Agree  with  thine  Adversary. 

his  own  sins  deliver  him  up  to  God  his  judge  ;  and  God 
to  His  terrible  officers  of  punishment,  the  laws  of 
Disease  ;  and  they  cast  him  into  a  prison  of  shame  and 
misery  from  which  there  is  no  escape — shame  and 
misery,  most  common  perhaps  among  the  lower  classes  : 
but  not  altogether  confined  to  them — the  weakened 
body,  the  bleared  eye,  the  stupified  brain,  the  premature 
death,  the  children  unhealthy  from  their  parents'  sins, 
despising  their  parents,  and  perhaps  copying  their  vices 
at  the  same  time.  Many  a  man  have  I  seen  in  that 
prison,  fast  bound  with  misery  though  not  with  iron,  and 
how  he  was  to  pay  his  debt  and  escape  out  of  it  1  know 
not,  though  I  hope  that  God  does  know. 

Are  any  of  you,  again,  in  the  habit  of  cheating  your 
neighbours,  or  dealing  unfairly  by  them  ?  Your  adver- 
sary is  the  everlasting  law  of  justice,  which  says.  Do  as 
you  would  be  done  by,  for  with  what  measure  you  mete 
to  others,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again. 

This  may  show  you  how  a  bodily  sin,  like  self- 
indulgence  punishes  itself  by  bringing  a  man  into 
bondage  of  bodily  misery,  from  which  he  cannot  escape  ; 
and  in  the  same  way  a  spiritual  sin,  like  want  of 
charity,  will  bring  a  man  into  spiritual  bondage  from 
which  he  cannot  escape.  And  this,  as  in  bodily  sins,  it 
will  do  by  virtue  of  that  mysterious  and  terrible  officer 
of  God,  which  we  call  Habit.  Habit,  by  which,  we  cannot 
tell  how,  our  having  done  a  thing  once  becomes  a  reason 
for  our  doing  it  again,  and  again  after  that,  till,  if  the 
habit  be  once  formed,  we  cannot  help  doing  that  thing, 
and  become  enslaved  to  it,  and  fast  bound  by  it  in  a 
prison  from  which  there  is  no  escape.      Look  for  instance 


Agree  with  thme  Adversary,  253 

at  the  case  of  the  untruthful  man,.  Let  him  beware  in 
time.  Who  is  his  adversary  ?  Facts  are  his  adversary. 
He  says  one  thing,  and  Fact  says  another,  and  a  very 
stubborn  and  terrible  adversary  Fact  is.  The  day  will 
come,  most  probably  in  this  life,  when  Facts  will  bring 
that  untruthful  man  before  God  and  before  men  likewise 
— and  cry, — Judge  between  us  which  of  us  is  right;  and 
there  will  come  to  that  false  man  exposure  and  shame, 
and  a  worse  punishment  still,  perhaps,  if  he  have  let  the 
habit  grow  too  strong  on  him,  and  have  not  agreed  with 
his  adversary  in  time. 

For  have  you  not  seen  (alas,  you  have  too  surely  seen) 
men  who  had  contracted  such  a  habit  of  falsehood  that 
they  could  not  shake  it  off — who  had  played  with  their 
sense  of  truth  so  long  that  they  had  almost  forgotten 
what  truth  meant ;  men  who  could  not  speak  without 
mystery,  concealment,  prevarication,  half-statements ;  who 
were  afraid  of  the  plain  truth,  not  because  there  was  any 
present  prospect  of  its  hurting  them,  but  simply  because  it 
was  the  plain  truth — children  of  darkness,  who,  from  long 
habit,  hated  the  light — and  who,  though  they  had  been 
found  out  and  exposed,  could  not  amend — could  not 
become  simple,  honest,  and  truthful — could  not  escape 
from  the  prison  of  their  own  bad  habits,  and  the  net  of 
lies  which  they  had  spread  round  their  own  path,  till 
they  had  paid  the  uttermost  penalty  for  their  deceit  ? 

Look,  again,  at  the  case  of  the  uncharitable  man,  in 
the  habit  of  forming  harsh  and  cruel  judgments  of  his 
neighbours.  Then  his  adversary  is  the  everlasting  law  of 
Love,  which  will  surely  at  last  punish  him,  by  the  most 
terrible  of  all  punishments — loss  of  love  to  man,  and 


2  54  Agree  with  thine  Advei^sary, 

therefore  to  God.      Are  we  not  (I  am,  I  know,  may  God 
fortrive  me  for  it)  apt  to  be  angry  with  our  brethren  with- 
out a  cause,  out  of  mere  peevishness  ?   Let  us  beware  in 
time.    Are  we  not  apt  to  say  to  them  "  Raca  " — to  speak 
cruelly,  contemptuously,  fiercely  of  them,  if  they  thwart 
us  ?      Let  us  beware  in  time  still  more.      Are  we  not, 
worst  of  all,  tempted  (as  I  too  often  am)  to  say  to  them 
"  Thou  fool  ;"   to  call  better  men,  more  useful  men,  more 
pure  men,  more  pious  men  than  ourselves,  hard  and  cruel 
names,  names  from  which  they  would  shrink  with  horror, 
because  they  cannot  see   Christian  truth  in  just  exactly 
the  same  light  that  we  do  ?      Oh  !  let  us  beware  then. 
Beware  lest  the  everlasting  laws  of  justice  and  fairness 
between  man  and  man,  of  love  and  charity  between  man 
and  man,  which  we  have  broken,  should  some  day  deliver 
us  up,  as  they  delivered  those  bigoted  Jews  of  old,  to  God, 
our  Judge,  and  He  deliver  our  souls  to  His  most  terrible 
officers,  who    are    called   envy,   hatred,    malice,    and  all 
uncharitableness  ;   and  they  thrust  us  into  that  blackest 
of  all  prisons,  on  the  gate  of  which  is  written,  Hardness 
of  heart,  and   Contempt  of  God's  Word  and  command- 
ments,  and    within   which   is   the   outer    darkness,    into 
which    if    a   man    falls,    he   cannot    see    the    difference 
between  right  and  wrong  :   but  calls  evil  good,  and  good 
evil,    like    his    companions    in    the    outer    darkness  — 
namely,  the  devil  and  his  angels.      Oh  I  let  us  who  are 
coming  to  lay  our  gift  upon  God's  altar  at  this  approach- 
ing Christmas  tide,  consider  whether   our   brother  hath 
aught  against  us  in  any  of  these  matters,  and,  if  so,  let 
us  leave  our  gift  upon  the  altar,  and  be  first  reconciled 
to  our  brother,  in  heart  at  least,  and  with  inward  shame, 


Agree  with  tJiine  Advei^sary.  255 

and  confession,  and  contrition,  and  resolution  to  amend. 
But  we  can  only  do  that  by  recollecting  what  gift  we  are 
to  leave  on  Christ's  altar, — that  it  is  the  gift  of  self,  the 
sacrifice  of  ourselves,  with  all  our  selfishness,  pride,  con- 
ceit, spite,  cruelty.  Ourselves,  with  all  our  sins,  we  are 
to  lay  upon  Christ's  altar,  that  our  sins  may  be  nailed  to 
His  cross,  and  washed  clean  in  His  blood,  everlastingly 
consumed  in  the  fire  of  His  Spirit,  the  pure  spirit  of 
love,  which  is  the  Charity  of  God,  that  so,  self  being 
purged  out  of  us,  we  may  become  holy  and  lively  sacri- 
fices to  God,  parts  and  parcels  of  that  perfect  sacrifice 
which  Christ  offered  up  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world 
• — even  the  sacrifice  of  Himself. 


SERMON  XXVIII. 

ST    JOHN    THE    BAPTIST. 

Chester  Cathedral.     1872. 

St  Luke  iii.  2,  3,  7,  9-14. 

'*  The  Word  of  God  came  unto  John  the  son  of  Zacharias  in  the 
wilderness.  And  he  came  into  all  the  country  about  Jordan, 
preaching  the  baptism  of  repentance  for  the  remission  of  sins.  .  .  . 
Then  said  he  to  the  multitude  that  came  forth  to  be  baptized  of 
him,  0  generation  of  vipers,  who  hath  warned  you  to  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come?  Bring  forth  therefore  fruits  worthy  of  repentance. 
.  .  .  And  now  also  the  axe  is  laid  unto  the  root  of  the  trees :  every 
tree  therefore  that  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  is  hewn  down  and 
cast  into  the  fire.  And  the  people  asked  him  saying,  What  shall 
we  do  then  ?  He  answereth  and  saith  unto  them,  He  that  hath  two 
coats,  let  him  impart  to  him  that  hath  none ;  and  he  that  hath  meat, 
let  him  do  likewise.  Then  came  also  publicans  to  be  baptized  unto 
them,  and  said  unto  him,  Master,  what  shall  we  do?  And  he  said, 
Exact  no  more  than  that  which  is  appointed  you.  And  the  soldiers 
likewise  demanded  of  him,  saying,  And  what  shall  we  do  ?  And 
he  said  unto  them.  Do  violence  to  no  man,  neither  accuse  any 
falsely,  and  be  content  with  your  wages." 

This  is  St  John  Baptist's  day.  Let  me  say  a  very 
few  words — where  many  might  be  said — about  one 
of  the  noblest  personages  who  ever  has  appeared  on  this 
earth. 

Our  blessed  Lord  said,  "  Among  them  that  are  born 
of  women  there  hath  not  risen  a  greater  than  John 
the  Baptist,  notwithstanding,  he  that  is  least  in  the 
kingdom   of   heaven   is   greater  than   he."      These  are 


S^  yohn  the  Baptist.  257 

serious  words  ;  for  which  of  us  dare  to  say  that  we  are 
greater  than  John  the  Baptist  ? 

But  let  us  at  least  think  a  while  what  John  the 
Baptist  was  like.  So  we  shall  gain  at  least  the  sight 
of  an  ideal  man.  It  is  not  the  highest  ideal.  Our 
Lord  tells  us  that  plainly  ;  and  we,  as  Christians,  should 
know  that  it  is  not.  The  ideal  man  is  our  Lord  Christ 
Himself,  and  none  other.  Still,  he  that  has  not  mounted 
the  lower  step  of  the  heavenly  stair,  has  certainly  not 
mounted  the  higher ;  and  therefore,  if  we  have  not 
attained  to  the  likeness  of  John  the  Baptist,  still  more, 
we  have  not  attained  to  the  likeness  of  Christ.  What, 
then,  was  John  the  Baptist  like  ?  What  picture  of  him 
and  his  character  can  we  form  to  ourselves  in  our  own 
imaginations,  for  that  is  all  we  have  to  picture  him  by  ? 
— helped — always  remember  that — by  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God,  who  helps  the  imagination,  the  poetic  and 
dramatic  faculty  of  men  ;  just  as  much  as  He  helps  the 
logical  and  argumentative  faculty  to  see  things  and  men 
as  they  really  are,  by  the  spirit  of  love,  which  also  is  the 
spirit  of  true  understanding. 

How,  then,  shall  we  picture  John  the  Baptist  to  our- 
selves ?  Great  painters,  greater  than  the  world  seems 
likely  to  see  again,  have  exercised  their  fancy  upon  his 
face,  his  figure,  his  actions.  We  must  put  out  of  our 
minds,  I  fear,  at  once,  many  of  the  loveliest  of  them  all  : 
those  in  which  Raftaelle  and  others  have  depicted  the 
child  John,  in  his  camel's  hair  raiment,  with  a  child's 
cross  in  his  hand,  worshipping  the  infant  Christ.  There 
is  also  one  exquisite  picture,  by  Annibale  Caracci,  if  I 
recollect    rightly,   in  which  the    blessed    babe    is   lying 

R 


258  S^  yoJin  the  Baptist, 

Tcsleep,  and  the  blessed  Virgin  signs  to  St  John,  pressing 
forward  to  adore  him,  not  to  awaken  his  sleeping  Lord 
and  God.  But  such  imaginations,  beautiful  as  they  are, 
and  true  in  a  heavenly  and  spiritual  sense,  which  there- 
fore is  true  eternally  for  you,  and  me,  and  all  mankind, 
are  not  historic  fact.  For  St  John  the  Baptist  said 
himself,  "and  I  knew  him  not." 

He  may  have  been,  we  must  almost  say,  he  must 
have  been,  brought  up  with  or  near  our  Lord.  He  may 
have  seen  in  Him  such  a  child  (we  must  believe  that), 
as  he  never  saw  before.  He  knew  Him  at  least  to  be  a 
princely  child,  of  David's  royal  line.  But  he  was  not 
conscious  of  who  and  what  He  was,  till  the  mysterious 
inner  voice,  of  whom  he  gives  only  the  darkest  hints, 
said  to  him,  *'  Upon  whom  thou  si  1  alt  see  the  Spirit  de- 
scendino^,  and  remainino^  on  Him,  the  same  is  He  which 
baptizeth  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  I  saw  and  bare 
record  that  this  is  the  Son  of  God."  But  what  manner 
of  man  was  St  John  the  Baptist  in  the  meantime  ? 
Painters  have  tried  their  hands  at  drawing  him,  and  we 
thank  them.  Pictures,  says  St  Augustine,  are  the  books 
of  the  unlearned.  And,  my  friends,  when  great  painters 
paint,  they  are  the  books  of  the  too-learned  likewise. 
They  bring  us  back,  bring  us  home,  by  one  glance  at  a 
human  face,  a  huma.n  figure,  a  human  scene  of  action, 
out  of  our  philosophies,  and  criticisms,  and  doctrines, 
which  narrow  our  hearts,  without  widening  our  heads,  to 
the  deeper  facts  of  humanity,  and  therefore  to  the  deeper 
facts  of  theology  likewise.  But  what  picture  of  St  John 
the  Baptist  shall  we  choose  whereby  to  represent  him  to 
(Hirselves,  as  the  forerunner  of  the  incarnate  God  ? 


S^  John  the  Baptist.  259 

The  best  which  I  can  recollect  is  the  great  picture  by 
Guido — ah,  that  he  had  painted  always  as  wisely  and 
as  well — of  the  magnificent  lad  sitting  on  the  rock,  half 
clad  in  his  camel's  hair  robe,  his  stalwart  hand  lifted  up 
to  denounce  he  hardly  knows  what,  save  that  things  are 
going  all  wrong,  utterly  wrong  to  him  ;  his  beautiful 
mouth  open  to  preach,  he  hardly  knows  what,  save  that 
he  has  a  messasfe  from  God,  of  which  he  is  half-conscious 
as  yet — that  he  is  a  forerunner,  a  prophet,  a  foreteller  of 
something^  and  some  one  which  is  to  come,  and  which 
yet  is  very  near  at  hand.  The  wild  rocks  are  round 
him,  the  clear  sky  is  over  him,  and  nothing  more.  He, 
the  gentleman  born,  the  clergyman  born — for  you  must 
recollect  who  and  what  St  John  the  Baptist  was,  and 
that  he  was  neither  democrat  nor  vulgar  demagogue,  nor 
flatterer  of  ignorant  mobs,  but  a  man  of  an  ancestry 
as  ancient  and  illustrious  as  it  was  civilised,  and  bound 
by  long  ties  of  duty,  of  patriotism,  of  religion,  and  of  the 
temple  worship  of  God  : — he,  the  noble  and  the  priest, 
has  thrown  off — not  in  discontent  and  desperation,  but 
in  hope  and  awe — all  his  family  privileges,  all  that  seems 
to  make  life  worth  having ;  and  there  aloft  and  in  the 
mountains,  alone  with  nature  and  with  God,  feeding  on 
locusts  and  wild  honey  and  whatsoever  God  shall  send, 
and  clothed  in  skins,  he,  like  Elijah  of  old,  renews  not 
merely  the  habits,  but  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elijah, 
and  preaches  to  a  generation  sunk  in  covetousness  and 
superstition,  party  spirit,  and  the  rest  of  the  seven 
devils  which  brought  on  the  fall  of  his  native  land,  and 
which  will  bring  on  the  fall  of  every  land  on  earth, 
preaches  to  them,  I  say — What  ? 


26o  S^  John  the  Baptist, 

The  most  common,  let  me  say  boldly,  the  most  vulgar 
— ill  the  sfood  old  sense  of  the  word — the  most  vulo^ar 
morality.  He  tells  them  that  an  awful  ruin  was  coming 
unless  they  repented  and  mended.  How  fearfully  true 
his  words  were,  the  next  fifty  years  proved.  The  axe, 
he  said,  was  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree;  and  the  axe 
was  the  heathen  Roman,  even  then  master  of  the  land. 
But  God,  not  the  Roman  Caesar  merely,  was  laying  the 
axe.  And  He  was  a  good  God,  who  only  wanted  good- 
ness, which  He  would  preserve  ;  not  badness,  which  He 
would  destroy.  Therefore  men  must  not  merely  repent 
and  do  penance,  they  must  bring  forth  fruits  meet  for 
penance  ;  do  right  instead  of  doing  wrong,  lest  they  be 
found  barren  trees,  and  be  cut  down,  and  cast  into  that 
everlasting  fire  of  God,  which,  thanks  be  to  His  Holy 
name,  burns  for  ever — unquencliable  by  all  men's 
politics,  and  systems,  and  political  or  other  economies,  to 
destroy  out  of  God's  Kingdom  all  that  offend eth  and 
whatsoever  loveth  and  maketh  a  lie — oppressors,  quacks, 
cheats,  hypocrites,  and  the  rest. 

The  people — the  farming  class — came  to  him  with 
"What  shall  we  do  ?"  The  young  priest  and  nobleman, 
in  his  garment  of  camel's  hair,  has  nothing  but  plain 
morality  for  them.  ''  He  that  hath  two  coats,  let  him 
impart  to  him  that  hath  none  ;  and  he  that  hath  meat, 
let  him  do  likewise."  The  publicans,  the  renegades, 
who  were  fanning  the  taxes  of  the  Roman  conquerors, 
and  making  their  base  profit  out  of  their  countrymen's 
slavery,  came  to  him, — ''  Master,  what  shall  we  do  ? " 
He  does  not  tell  them  not  to  be  publicans.  He  does 
not  tell   his  countrymen  to  rebel,  thouorh   he  must  have 


.5'/  John  the  Baptist.  261 

been  sorely  tempted  to  do  it.  All  he  says  is,  Make  the 
bad  and  base  arrangement  as  good  as  you  can ;  exact  no 
more  than  that  which  is  appointed  you.  The  soldiers, 
poor  fellows,  come  to  him.  Whether  they  were  Herod's 
mercenaries,  or  real  gallant  Roman  soldiers,  we  are  not 
told.  Either  had  unlimited  power  under  a  military 
despotism,  in  an  anarchic  and  half-enslaved  country;  but 
whichever  they  were,  he  has  the  same  answer  to  them 
of  common  morality.  You  are  what  you  are  ;  you  are 
where  you  are.  Do  it  as  well  as  you  can.  Do  no 
violence  to  any  man,  neither  accuse  any  man  falsely, 
and  be  content  with  your  wages. 

Ah,  wise  politician,  ah,  clear  and  rational  spirit,  who 
knows  and  tells  others  to  do  the  duty  which  lies  nearest 
them ;  who  sees  (as  old  Greek  Hesiod  says),  how  much 
bigger  the  half  is  than  the  whole;  who,  in  the  hour  of  his 
country's  deepest  degradation,  had  divine  courage  to  say, 
our  deliverance  lies,  not  in  rebellion,  but  in  doing  right. 

But  he  has  sterner  words.  Pharisees,  the  separatists, 
the  religious  men,  who  think  themselves  holier  than 
any  one  else ;  and  Sadducees,  materialist  men  of  the 
world,  who  sneer  at  the  unseen,  the  unknown,  the 
heroic,  come  to  him.  And  for  Pharisee  and  Sadducee — 
for  the  man  who  prides  himself  on  believing  more  than 
his  neighbours,  and  for  the  man  who  prides  himself  on 
believing  less — he  has  the  same  answer.  Both  are 
exclusives,  inhuman,  while  they  are  pretending  to  be 
more  than  human.  He  knew  them  well,  for  he  was 
born  and  bred  among  them,  and  he  forestalls  our  Lord's 
words  to  them,  *'  0  generation  of  vipers,  who  hath 
warned  you  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come  ? " 


262  S^  John  the  Baptist, 

At  last  his  preaching  of  common  morality  is  put  to 
the  highest  test.  The  king — the  tyrant  as  we  should 
call  him — the  Herod  of  the  day,  an  usurper,  neither  a 
son  of  David,  nor  a  king  chosen  by  the  people,  tries  to 
patronize  him.  The  old  spirit  of  his  forefather  Aaron,  of 
Ids  forefather  Phineiis,  the  spirit  of  Levi,  which  (rightly 
understood),  is  the  Spirit  of  God,  flashes  up  in  the  young 
priestly  prophet,  in  the  old  form  of  common  morality. 
"It  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  have  thy  brother's  wife." 
We  know  the  rest ;  how,  at  the  request  of  Herodias' 
daughter,  Herod  sent  and  beheaded  John  in  prison,  and 
how  she  took  his  head  in  a  charger  and  brought  it  to 
her  mother.  Great  painters  have  shown  us  again  and 
again  the  last  act — outwardly  hideous,  but  really  beauti- 
ful— of  St  John's  heroic  drama,  in  a  picture  of  the  lovely 
dancing  girl  with  the  prophet's  head  in  a  charger — a 
dreadful  picture ;  and  yet  one  which  needed  to  be  painted, 
for  it  was  a  terrible  fiict,  and  is  still,  and  will  be  till  this 
wicked  world's  end,  a  matter  for  pity  and  tears  rather 
than  for  indignation.  The  most  perfect  representations, 
certainly  the  most  tragical  I  know  of  it,  are  those  which 
are  remarkable,  not  for  their  expression,  but  for  their 
want  of  expression — the  young  girl  in  brocade  and  jewels, 
with  the  gory  head  in  her  hands,  thinking  of  nothing  out 
of  those  wide  vacant  foolish  eyes,  save  the  triumph  of  self- 
satisfied  vanity  ;  for  the  spite  and  revenge  is  not  in  her, 
but  in  her  wicked  mother.  She  is  just  the  very  creature, 
who,  if  she  had  been  better  trained,  and  taught  what  John 
the  Baptist  really  was,  might  have  reverenced  him,  wor- 
shipped him,  and  ministered  unto  him.  Alas!  alas!  how 
do  the  follies  of  poor  humanity  repeat  themselves  in  every 


6'/  yohn  the  Baptist,  263 

age.  The  butterfly  has  killed  the  lion,  without  after  all 
metining  much  harm.  Ah,  that  such  human  butterflies 
would  take  warning  by  the  fate  of  Herod ias'  daughter, 
and  see  how  mere  vanity  will  lead,  if  indulged  too  long 
and  too  freely,  to  awfal  crime. 

One  knows  the  old  stories, — how  Herod,  and  Herodias, 
and  the  vain  foolish  girl  fell  into  disgrace  with  tlie 
Emperor,  and  were  banished  into  Provence,  and  died  in 
want  and  misery.  One  knows  too  the  old  legends,  how 
Herodifis'  daughter  reappears  in  South  Europe — even  in 
old  German  legends — as  the  witch-goddess,  fair  and 
ruinous,  sweeping  for  ever  through  wood  and  wold  at 
night  with  her  troop  of  fiends,  tempting  the  traveller  to 
dance  with  them  till  he  dies ;  a  name  for  ever  accursed 
through  its  own  vanity  rather  than  its  own  deliberate 
sin,  from  which  may  God  preserve  us  all,  men  as  well  as 
women.  So  two  women,  one  wicked  and  one  vain,  did 
all  they  could  to  destroy  one  of  the  noblest  human 
beings  who  ever  walked  this  earth.  And  what  did  they 
do  ?  They  did  not  prevent  his  being  the  forerunner  and 
prophet  of  the  incarnate  Son  of  God.  They  did  not 
prevent  his  being  the  master  and  teacher  of  the  blessed 
Apostle  St  John,  who  was  his  spiritual  son  and  heir. 
They  did  not  prevent  his  teaching  all  men  and  women, 
to  whom  God  gives  grace  to  understand  him,  that 
the  true  repentance,  the  true  conversion,  the  true  de- 
liverance from  the  wrath  to  come,  the  true  entrance  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the  true  way  to  Christ  and  to 
God,  is  common  morality. 

And  now  let  us  bless  God's  holy  name  for  all  His 
servants  departed  in  His  faith  and  fear,  and   especially 


264  S^  John  the  Baptist. 

for  His  servant  St  John  the  Baptist,  beseeching  Him  to 
give  us  grace,  so  to  follow  his  doctrine  and  holy  life,  that 
we  may  truly  repent  after  his  preaching  and  after  his 
example.  May  the  Lord  forgive  our  exceeding  cowardice, 
and  help  us  constantly  to  speak  the  truth,  boldly  rebuke 
vice,  and  patiently  suffer  for  the  truth's  sake ;  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Ameuu 


SEEMON    XXIX. 

THE    PRESENT    RECOMPENSE. 

Chester  Cathedral,  Nave  Service,  Evening.     May  1872. 

Proverbs  xi.  31. 

*'  Behold,  the  righteous  shall  be  recompensed  in  the  earth  :  much 
more  the  wicked  and  the  sinner." 

This  is  the  key-note  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs — that 
men  are  punished  or  rewarded  according  to  their  deeds 
in  this  life ;  nay,  it  is  the  key-note  of  the  whole  Old 
Testament.  "  The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  over  the 
righteous,  and  His  ears  are  open  unto  their  prayers  ;  the 
countenance  of  the  Lord  is  against  them  thai  do  evil,  to 
root  out  the  remembrance  of  them  from  the  earth." 

But  here,  at  the  beginning  of  my  sermon,  I  can  fancy 
some  one  ready  to  cry — Stay  !  you  have  spoken  too 
strongly.  That  is  not  the  key-note  of  the  whole  Old 
Testament.  There  are  words  in  it  of  quite  a  different 
note — words  which  complain  to  God  that  the  good  are 
not  rewarded,  and  the  wicked  are  not  punished  :  as  for 
instance,  when  the  Psalmist  says  how  the  ungodly  men 
of  this  evil  world  are  filled  with  God's  hid  treasure,  and 
how  they  have  children  at  their  desire,  and  leave  the 
rest  of  their  substance  for  their  babes.      And  again,  "  I 


266  The  Present  Recompense, 

was  envious  at  the  foolish,  when  I  saw  the  prospeiity 
of  the  wicked.  For  there  are  no  bands  in  their 
death;  but  their  strength  is  firm.  They  are  not  in 
trouble  as  other  men;  neither  are  they  plagued  like 
other  men.  .  .  .  They  set  their  mouth  against  the 
heavens,  and  their  tongue  walketh  through  the  earth. 
Therefore  his  people  return  hither;  and  waters  of 
a  full  cup  are  wrung  out  to  them.  And  they  say, 
How  doth  God  know  ?  and  is  there  knowledge  in 
the  most  High  ? "  And  though  the  Psalmist  says  that 
such  persons  will  come  to  a  sudden  and  fearful  end, 
yet  he  confesses  that  so  long  as  they  live  they  have 
prospered,  while  he  had  been  punished  all  day  long,  and 
chastened  every  morning.  And  do  we  not  kuow  that  so 
it  is  ?  Is  it  not  obvious  now,  and  has  it  not  been 
notorious  in  every  country,  and  in  all  times,  that  so  it 
is  ?  Do  not  good  men  often  lead  lives  of  jDoverty  and 
affliction  ?  Do  not  men  make  large  fortunes,  or  rise  to 
fame  and  power,  by  base  and  wicked  means  ?  and  do  not 
those  same  men  often  enough  die  in  their  beds,  and 
leave  children  behind  them,  and  found  families,  who 
prosper  for  generations  after  they  are  dead  ?  How  were 
they  recompensed  in  the  earth  ?  Now  this  is  one  of  the 
puzzles  of  life,  which  tries  a  man's  faith  in  God,  as  it 
tried  the  psalmists  and  prophets  in  old  time.  But  that 
the  text  speaks  truth  I  do  not  doubt.  I  believe  that 
the  prosperous  bad  man  is  recompensed  in  the  earth — is 
punished  in  this  life — often  with  the  most  terrible  of  all 
punishments — Impunity;  tlie  not  being  punished  at  all; 
which  is  the  worst  thing  in  this  life  which  can  happen 
to  a  sinner.      But  I   am  not  going  to  speak  of  that,  but 


The  Present  Recompense,  267 

rather  of  the  first  part  of  the  text,  "  The  righteous  shall 
be  recompensed  in  the  earth." 

Now  is  not  the  answer  to  the  puzzle  this  :  That  God 
is  impartial ;  that  He  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  but 
causing  His  sun  to  shine  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good, 
and  His  rain  to  fall  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust;  and 
so  rewarding  every  man  according  to  his  work,  paying 
him  for  all  work  done,  of  whatever  kind  it  may  be  ? 
Some  work  for  this  world,  which  we  do  see,  and  God 
gives  them  what  they  earn  in  this  life  ;  some  work  for 
the  world  above,  which  we  cannot  see,  and  God  gives 
them  what  they  earn  in  this  life,  for  ever  and  ever  like- 
wise. If  a  man  wishes  for  treasure  on  earth,  he  can 
have  it  if  he  will,  and  enjoy  it  as  long  as  it  lasts.  If  a 
man  wishes  for  treasure  in  heaven,  he  can  have  it  if  he 
will,  and  enjoy  it  as  long  as  it  lasts.  God  deals  fairly 
with  both,  and  pays  both  what  they  have  earned. 

Some  set  their  hearts  on  this  world ;  some  want 
mone}^  some  want  power,  some  want  fame  and  admira- 
tion from  their  fellow-men,  some  want  merely  to  amuse 
themselves.  Then  they  will  have  what  they  want  if 
they  will  take  the  right  way  to  get  it.  If  a  man  wishes  to 
make  a  large  fortune,  and  die  rich,  he  will  very  probably 
succeed,  if  he  will  only  follow  diligently  the  laws  and 
rules  by  which  God  has  appointed  that  money  should  be 
made.  If  a  man  longs  for  power  and  glory,  and  must 
needs  be  admired  and  obeyed  by  his  fellow-men,  he  can 
have  his  wish,  if  he  will  go  the  right  way  to  get  what  he 
longs  for;  especially  in  a  free  country  like  this,  he  will  get 
most  probably  just  as  much  of  them  as  he  deserves — that 
is,  as  much  as  he  has  talent  and  knowledge   enough  to 


268  The  Present  Recompense. 

earn.  So  did  the  Pharisees  in  our  Lord's  time.  Thej 
wanted  power,  fame,  and  money  as  reUgious  leaders,  and 
they  knew  how  to  get  them  as  well  as  any  men  who  ever 
lived;  and  they  got  them.  Our  Lord  did  not  deny  that. 
They  had  their  reward.  He  said.  They  succeeded — those 
old  Pharisees — in  being  looked  up  to  as  the  masters  of 
the  Jewish  mob,  and  in  crucifying  our  Lord  Himself. 
They  had  their  reward  ;  and  so  may  you  and  I.  If  we 
want  any  earthly  thing,  and  have  knowledge  of  the  way 
to  get  it,  and  have  ability  and  perseverance  enough,  then 
we  shall  very  probably  get  it,  and  much  good  it  will  do 
us  when  we  have  got  it  after  all.  We  shall  have  had 
our  treasure  upon  earth  and  our  hearts  likewise  ;  and 
when  we  come  to  die  we  shall  leave  both  oar  treasure 
and  our  hearts  behind  us,  and  the  Lord  have  mercy  on 
our  souls. 

But  again,  there  are  those,  thank  God,  who  have,  or 
are  at  least  trying  to  get,  treasure  in  heaven,  which  they 
may  carry  away  with  them  when  they  die,  and  keep  for 
ever.  And  who  are  they  ?  Those  who  are  longing  and 
trying  to  be  true  and  to  be  good  ;  who  have  seen  how 
beautiful  it  is  to  be  true  and  to  be  good  ;  to  know  God 
and  the  will  of  God ;  to  love  God  and  the  will  of  God ; 
and  therefore  to  copy  His  likeness  and  to  do  His  will. 
Those  who  long  for  sanctificatioD,  and  who  desire  to  be 
holy,  even  as  their  Father  in  heaven  is  holy,  and  perfect, 
even  as  their  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect;  and  who 
therefore  think,  as  St  Paul  bade  them,  of  whatsoever 
things  are  just,  true,  pure,  lovely,  and  of  good  report,  if 
there  be  any  true  manhood,  and  if  there  be  any  just  praise 
— in   three   words — who  seek  after  whatsoever  is  true. 


The  Present  Recompense,  269 

beautiful,  and  good.  These  are  they  that  have  treasure  in 
heaven.  For  what  is  really  true,  really  beautiful,  really 
good,  is  also  really  heavenly.  God  alone  is  perfect, 
good,  beautiful,  and  true ;  and  heaven  is  heaven  because 
it  is  filled  with  the  glory  of  His  goodness.  His  beauty, 
and  His  truth.  But  wherever  there  is  a  soul  on  earth 
led  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  filled  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
with  good  and  beautiful  and  true  graces  and  inspirations, 
there  is  a  soul  which,  as  St  Paul  says,  is  sitting  in 
heavenly  places  with  Christ  Jesus — a  soul  which  is 
already  in  heaven  though  still  on  earth.  We  confess  it 
by  our  own  words.  We  speak  of  a  heavenly  character ; 
we  speak  even  of  a  heavenly  countenance  ;  and  we  speak 
right.  We  see  that  that  cliaracter,  though  it  be  still 
imperfect,  and  marred  by  human  weaknesses,  is  already 
good  with  the  goodness  which  comes  down  from  heaven; 
and  that  that  countenance,  though  it  may  be  mean  and 
plain,  is  already  beautiful  with  the  beauty  which  comes 
down  from  heaven. 

But  how  are  such  souls  recompensed  in  the  earth  ? 
Oh  !  my  friends,  is  not  a  man  recompensed  in  the  earth 
whenever  he  can  lift  up  his  heart  above  the  earth  ? 
— whenever  he  can  lift  up  his  heart  unto  the  Lord, 
and  behold  His  glory  above  all  the  earth  ?  Does  not 
this  earth  look  brighter  to  him  then  ?  The  world  of 
man  looks  brighter  to  him,  in  spite  of  all  its  sins  and 
sorrows,  for  he  sees  the  Lord  ruling  it,  the  Lord  for- 
giving it,  the  Lord  saving  it.  He  sees,  b}^  the  eye  of 
faith,  the  Lord  fulfilling  His  own  promise — ''  where  two 
or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I 
in  the  midst  of  them"  ;  and  he  takes  heart  and  hope  for 


2  70  The  Present  Recompense. 

the  poor  eartli,  and  says,  The  earth  is  not  deserted  ;  man- 
kind is  not  without  a  Father,  a  Saviour,  a  Teacher,  a 
King.  Bad  men  and  bad  spirits  are  not  the  masters  of 
the  world  ;  and  men  are  not  as  creeping  things,  as  the 
fishes  of  the  sea,  which  have  no  ruler  over  them.  For 
Christ  has  not  left  His  church.  He  reigns,  and  will 
reign,  till  He  has  put  all  enemies  under  His  feet,  and 
cast  out  of  His  kingdom  all  that  offend,  and  whatsoever 
loveth  and  maketh  a  lie  ;  and  then  the  heavenly  treasure 
will  be  the  only  treasure  ;  for  whatsoever  things  are  just, 
whatsoever  things  are  true,  pure,  lovely,  and  of  good  re- 
port, if  there  be  any  valour,  and  if  there  be  any  praise, 
those  things,  and  the}^  alone,  will  be  left  in  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  and  of  God.  Is  not  that  man  recompensed  in 
the  earth  ?  Must  he  not  rise  each  morning  to  go  about 
his  daily  work  with  a  more  cheerful  heart,  saying,  with 
Jeremiah,  in  like  case,  '''  Upon  this  I  awaked,  and  beheld, 
and  my  sleep  was  sweet  to  me  ?" 

Yes,  I  see  in  experience  that  the  righteous  man  is 
recompensed  in  the  earth,  every  day,  and  all  day  long. 
In  proportion  as  a  man's  mind  is  heavenly,  just  so  much 
will  he  enjoy  this  beautiful  earth,  and  all  that  is  therein. 
I  believe  that  if  a  man  walks  with  God,  then  he  can 
walk  nowhither  without  seeing  and  hearing  what  the 
ungodly  and  bad  man  will  never  see  and  hear,  because 
his  eyes  are  blinded,  and  his  heart  hardened  from  think- 
ing of  himself,  his  own  selfish  wants,  his  own  selfish  sins. 
Which,  for  instance,  was  the  happier  man — which  the 
man  who  was  the  more  recompensed  in  the  earth  this 
very  day — the  poor  man  who  went  for  his  Sunday  walk 
into  the  country,  thinking  of  little  but  the  sins  and  the 


The  Present  Recompense,  2  7 1 

follies  of  the  week  past,  and  probably  of  the  sins  and  the 
follies  of  the  week  to  come  ;  or  the  man  who  went  with 
a  clear  conscience,  and  had  the  heart  to  thank  God  for 
the  green  grass,  and  the  shining  river,  and  the  misty 
mountains  sleeping  far  away,  and  notice  the  song  of  the 
birds,  and  the  scent  of  the  flowers,  as  a  little  child  might 
do,  and  know  that  his  Father  in  heaven  had  made  all 
these  ? 

Yes,  my  friends,  Christ  is  very  near  us,  though  our 
eyes  are  hold  en  by  our  own  sins,  and  therefore  we  see  Him 
not.  But  just  in  proportion  as  a  man  walks  with  God, 
just  in  proportion  as  the  eyes  of  his  soul  are  opened  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  he  recovers,  I  believe,  the  privilege 
which  Adam  lost  when  he  fell.  He  hears  the  Word  of 
the  Lord  walking  among  the  trees  of  the  garden  in  the 
cool  of  the  day;  and  instead  of  trying,  like  guilty  Adam, 
to  hide  himself  from  his  Maker,  answers,  with  reverenc 
and  yet  with  joy.  Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant  heareth. 

Nay,  I  would  go  further  still,  and  say.  Is  not  the 
righteous  man  recompensed  on  the  earth  every  time  he 
hears  a  strain  of  noble  music  ?  To  him  who  has  his 
treasure  in  heaven,  music  speaks  about  that  treasure 
things  far  too  deep  for  words.  Music  speaks  to  him  of 
whatsoever  is  just,  true,  pure,  lovely,  and  of  good  report, 
of  whatsoever  is  manful  and  ennobling,  of  whatsoever  is 
worthy  of  praise  and  honour.  Music,  to  that  man,  epeaks 
of  a  divine  order  and  a  divine  proportion  ;  of  a  divine 
harmony,  through  all  the  discords  and  confusions  of  men  ; 
of  a  divine  melody,  through  all  the  cries  and  groans  of 
sin  and  sorrow.  What  says  a  wiser  and  a  better  man 
than  I  shall  ever  be,  and  that  not  of  noble  music,  but  of 


272  The  Present  Recompense, 

such  as  we  may  hear  any  day  in  any  street  ?  ''  Even  that 
vulgar  music,"  he  says,  "  which  makes  one  man  merry, 
another  mad,  strikes  in  me  a  deep  fit  of  devotion,  and 
a  profound  contemplation  of  God,  the  first  composer. 
There  is  something  more  of  divinity  in  it  than  the  ear 
discovers.  It  is  an  hieroglyph ical  and  shadowed  lesson 
of  the  whole  world,  and  of  the  creatures  of  God.  Such 
a  melody  to  the  ear  as  the  whole  world,  well  understood, 
would  afford  to  the  understanding."  That  man,  I  in- 
sist, was  indeed  recompensed  on  the  earth,  when  music, 
which  is  to  the  ungodly  and  unrighteous  the  most 
earthly  of  all  arts,  which  to  the  heathens  and  the  savages, 
to  frivolous  and  profligate  persons,  only  tempts  to  silly 
excitement  or  to  brutal  passion,  was  to  him  as  the  speech 
of  angels,  a  remembrancer  to  him  of  that  eternal  and 
ever-present  heaven,  from  whicb  all  beauty,  truth,  and 
goodness  are  shed  forth  over  the  universe,  from  the  glory 
of  the  ever-blessed  Trinity — Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Spirit. 

Does  any  one  say — These  things  are  too  high  for  me  ; 
I  cannot  understand  them  %  My  dear  friends,  are  they 
not  too  high  for  me  likewise  ?  Do  you  fancy  that  I  un- 
derstand them,  though  my  reason,  as  well  as  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, tells  me  that  they  are  true  ?  I  understand  them 
no  more  than  I  understand  how  I  draw  a  single  breath, 
or  think  a  single  thought.  But  it  is  good  for  you,  and 
for  me,  and  for  every  man,  now  and  then,  to  hear  things 
which  we  do  not  understand  ;  that  so  we  may  learn  our 
own  ignorance,  and  be  lifted  up  above  ourselves,  and  re- 
nounce our  fancied  worldly  wisdom,  and  think  within 
ourselves  : — Would  it  not  be  wiser  to  confess  ourselves 


The  Present  Recompense.  273 

fools,  and  take  our  Lord's  advice,  and  be  converted,  and 
become  as  little  children  ?  For  otherwise,  our  Lord 
says,  we  shall  in  nowise  enter  into  this  very  kingdom  of 
heaven  of  which  I  have  been  telling  you.  For  this  is 
one  of  the  thinsfs  '^diich  God  hide?  from  the  wise  and 
prudent,  and  yet  reveaieth  unto  babes.  Yes,  that  is  the 
way  to  underst-.and  all  things,  however  deep — to  become 
as  little  children.  A  little  child  proves  that  all  I  say  is 
true,  and  that  it  knows  that  all  I  say  is  true.  Though 
it  cannot  put  its  feelings  into  words,  it  acts  on  them  by 
a  mere  instinct,  which  is  the  gift  of  God.  Why  does  a 
little  child  pick  flowers?  Why  does  a  little  child  dance 
when  it  hears  a  strain  of  music  ?  And  deeper  still,  why 
does  a  little  child  know  when  it  has  done  wrong  ?  Why 
does  it  love  to  hear  of  things  beautiful  and  noble,  and 
shrink  from  things  foul  and  mean,  if  what  I  say  is  not 
true  ?  The  child  does  so,  because  it  is  nearer  heaven, 
not  further  off,  than  we  grown  folk. 

Ah  !  that  we  would  all  lay  to  heart  what  one  said  of 
old,  who  walked  with  God  : — 

"  Dear  soul,  could'st  thou  become  a  child, 
Once  more  on  earth,  meek,  undefiled, 
Then  Paradise  were  round  thee  here, 
And  God  Himself  for  ever  near." 


\ 


SERMON    XXX. 

THE   KINGDOM    OF    HEAVEK. 

Chapel  Royal,  St  James\     1873. 

St.  Matt.  xxii.  2-7. 

**  Tlie  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  certain  king,  which  made  a 
marriage  for  his  son,  and  sent  forth  his  servants  to  call  them  that 
were  bidden  to  the  wedding  :  and  they  would  not  coine.  Again, 
he  sent  forth  other  servants,  saying,  Tell  them  which  are  bidden, 
Behold,  I  have  prepared  ray  dinner  :  my  oxen  and  fatlings  are 
killed,  and  all  things  are  ready  :  come  unto  the  marriage.  But 
they  made  light  of  it,  and  went  their  ways,  one  to  his  farm,  another 
to  his  merchandise  :  And  the  remnant  took  his  servants,  and 
entreated  them  spitefully,  and  slew  them.  But  when  the  king 
heard  thereof,  he  was  wroth  :  and  he  sent  forth  his  armies,  and 
destroyed  those  murderers,  and  burned  up  their  city." 

This  parable,  if  we  understand  it  aright,  will  help  to 
teach  us  theology — that  is,  the  knowledge  of  God,  and 
of  the  character  of  God.  For  it  is  a  parable  concerning 
the  kingdom  of  lieaven,  and  the  laws  and  customs  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven — that  is,  the  spiritual  and  eternal 
laws  by  which  God  governs  men. 

Now,  what  any  kingdom  or  government  is  like  must 
needs  depend  on  what  the  king  or  governor  of  it  is  like  ; 
at  least  if  that  king  is  all-powerful,  and  can  do  what  he 
likes.  His  laws  will  be  like  his  character.  If  he  be 
good,  he  will  make  good  laws.  If  he  be  bad,  he  will 
make  bad  laws.      If  he  be  harsh  and  cruel — if  he  be 


The  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  275 

careless  and  indulgent — so  will  his  laws  be.  If  lie  be 
loving  and  generous,  delighting  in  seeing  his  subjects 
happy,  then  his  laws  will  be  so  shaped  that  his  subjects 
will  be  happy,  if  they  obey  those  laws.  But  also — and 
this  is  a  very  serious  matter,  and  one  to  which  foolish 
peoj)le  in  all  ages  have  tried  to  shut  their  eyes,  and  false 
2)reacliers  in  all  ages  have  tried  to  blind  men's  eyes — 
also,  I  say,  if  his  laws  be  good,  and  bountiful,  and  sure 
to  make  men  happy,  then  the  good  king  will  have  those 
laws  obeyed.  He  will  not  be  an  indulgent  king,  for  in 
his  case  to  be  indulgent  will  be  cruelty,  and  nothing  less. 
The  good  king  will  not  say, — I  have  given  you  laws  by 
which  you  may  live  happy  ;  but  I  do  not  care  whether 
you  obey  them  or  not.  I  have,  as  it  were,  set  you  up 
in  life,  and  given  you  advantages  by  which  you  may 
prosper  if  you  use  them  ;  but  I  do  not  care  whether  j^ou 
use  them  or  not.  For  to  say  that  would  be  as  much  as 
to  say  that  I  do  not  care  if  you  make  yourselves  miser- 
able, and  make  others  miserable  likewise.  The  good 
king  will  say, — You  shall  obey  my  laws,  for  they 
are  for  your  good.  You  shall  use  my  gifts,  for  they 
are  for  your  good.  And  if  you  do  not,  I  will  punish 
you.  You  shall  respect  my  authority.  And  if  you  do 
not — if  you  go  too  far,  if  you  become  wanton  and 
cruel,  and  destroy  your  fellow-subjects  unjustly  off  the 
face  of  the  earth ;  then  I  will  destroy  you  off  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  burn  up  your  city.  I  will  destroy  any 
government  or  system  of  society  which  you  set  up  in  op- 
position to  my  good  and  just  laws.  And  if  you  merely 
despise  the  gifts,  and  refuse  to  use  them — then  I  will 
cast  you  out  of  my  kingdom,  inside  which  is  freedom  and 


276  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

happiness,  and  light  and  knowledge,  into  the  darkness 
outside,  bound  hand  and  foot,  into  the  ignorance  and 
brutal  slavery  which  yoa  have  chosen,  where  you  may 
reconsider  yourself,  weeping  and  gnashing  your  teeth  as 
you  discover  what  a  fool  you  have  been. 

Our  Lord's  parable  has  fulfilled  itself  again  and  again 
in  history,  and  will  fulfil  itself  as  long  as  foolish  and 
rebellious  persons  exist  on  earth.  This  is  one  of  the 
laws  of  the  kinoxlom  of  heaven.  It  must  be  so,  for  it 
arises  by  necessity  out  of  the  character  of  Christ,  the 
king  of  heaven. — Infinite  bounty  and  generosity  ;  but  if 
that  bounty  be  despised  and  insulted,  or  still  more,  if  it 
be  outraged  by  wanton  tyranny  or  cruelty,  then — for 
the  benefit  of  the  rest  of  mankind — awful  severity. 
So  it  is,  and  so  it  must  be ;  simply  because  God  is 
good. 

At  least,  this  is  the  kind  of  king  which  the  parable 
shows  to  us.  The  king  in  it  begins,  not  by  asking  his 
subjects  to  pay  him  taxes,  or  even  to  do  him  service,  but 
to  come  to  a  great  feast — a  high  court  ceremonial — the 
marriage  of  his  son.  Whatsoever  else  that  may  mean,  it 
certainly  means  this — that  the  king  intended  to  treat 
these  men,  not  as  his  slaves,  but  as  his  guests  and  friends. 
They  will  not  come.  They  are  too  busy  ;  one  over  his 
farm,  another  over  his  merchandise.  They  owe,  re- 
member, safe  possession  of  their  farm,  and  safe  transit 
for  their  merchandise,  to  the  king,  who  governs  and 
guards  the  land.  But  they  forget  that,  and  refuse  his 
invitation.  Some  of  them,  seemingly  out  of  mere  inso- 
lence, and  the  spirit  of  rebellion  against  authority,  just 
because  it  is  authority,  go  a  step  too  far.      To  show  that 


The  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  277 

they  are  their  own  masters,  and  intend  to  do  what  they 
like,  they  take  the  king's  messengers,  and  treat  them 
spitefully,  and  kill  them. 

Then  there  a.rises  in  that  king  a  noble  indignation. 
We  do  not  read  that  the  kinof  sentimentalised  over  these 
rebels,  and  said, — ''  After  all,  their  evil,  like  all  evil,  is 
only  a  lower  form  of  good.  They  had  a  fine  instinct  of 
freedom  and  independence  latent  in  them,  only  it  was  in 
this  case  somewhat  perverted.  They  are  really  only  to 
be  pitied  for  knowing  no  better ;  but  I  trust,  by  careful 
education,  to  bring  them  to  a  clearer  sense  of  their  own 
interests.  I  shall  therefore  send  them  to  a  reformatory, 
where,  in  consideration  of  the  depressing  circumstances 
of  their  imprisonment,  they  will  be  better  looked  after, 
and  have  lighter  work,  than  the  average  of  my  honest 
and  peaceable  subjects."  If  the  king  had  spoken  thus, 
he  would  have  won  high  applause  in  these  days;  at  least 
till  the  farms  and  the  merchandise,  the  property  and  the 
profits  of  the  rest  of  his  subjects,  were  endangered  by 
these  favoured  objects  of  his  philanthropy ;  who,  having 
found  that  rebellion  and  even  murder  was  pardonable  in 
one  case,  would  naturally  try  whether  it  was  not  par- 
donable in  other  cases  likewise.  But  what  we  read  of 
the  king — and  we  must  really  remember,  in  fear  and 
trembling;  who  spoke  this  parable,  even  our  Lord  Him- 
self,— is  this  —  He  sent  forth  his  armies,  soldiers,  men 
disciplined  to  do  their  duty  at  all  risks,  and  sworn  to 
carry  out  the  law,  and  destroyed  those  murderers,  and 
burned  up  their  city. 

Yes,  the  king  was  very  angry,  as  he  had  a  right    to 
be.      Yes,  let  us  lay  that  to  heart,  and  tremble,  from  the 


278  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

very  worst  of  us  all  to  the  very  best  of  us  all.  There  is 
an  anger  in  God.  There  is  indignation  in  God.  Our 
highest  reason  ought  to  tell  us  that  there  must  be  anger 
in  God,  as  long  as  sin  and  wrong  exist  in  any  corner  of 
the  universe.  For  all  that  is  good  in  man  is  of  the 
1'i.eness  of  God.  And  is  it  not  a  good  feeling,  a  noble 
levjiiog,  in  man,  to  be  indignant,  or  to  cry  for  vengeance 
on  the  offender,  whenever  we  hear  of  cruelty,  injustice, 
or  violence  ?  Is  that  not  noble  ?  I  say  it  is.  I  say 
that  the  man  whose  heart  does  not  burn  within  him  at 
the  sight  of  tyranny  and  cruelty,  of  baseness  and  deceit, 
who  is  not  ready  to  say.  Take  him,  and  do  to  him  as  he 
has  done  to  others  ;  that  man's  heart  is  not  right  with 
God,  or  with  man  either.  His  moral  sense  is  stunted. 
He  is  on  the  way  to  become,  first,  if  he  can,  a  tyrant, 
and  then  a  slave. 

And  shall  there  be  no  noble  indignation  in  God  when 
He  beholds  all  the  wrong  which  is  done  on  earth? 
Shall  the  just  and  holy  God  look  on  carelessly  and  satis- 
fied at  injustice  and  unholiness  which  vexes  even  poor 
sinful  man  ?  God  forbid  !  To  think  that,  would,  to 
my  mind,  be  to  fancy  God  less  just,  less  merciful,  than 
man.  And  if  any  one  says,  Anger  is  a  passion,  a  suffer- 
ing from  something  outside  oneself,  and  God  can  have 
no  passions ;  God  cannot  be  moved  by  the  sins  and 
follies  of  such  paltry  atoms  as  we  human  beings  are  : 
the  answer  is,  Man's  anger — even  just  anger — is,  too 
often,  a  passion ;  weak-minded  persons,  ill-educated 
persons,  especially  when  they  get  together  in  mobs,  and 
excite  each  other,  are  carried  away  when  they  hear  even 
a  false  report    of  cruelty  or    injustice,   by   their   really 


The  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  279 

wholesome  indignation,  and  say  and  do  foolish,  and  cruel, 
and  unjust  things,  the  victims  of  their  own  passion. 
But  even  among  men,  the  wiser  a  man  is,  the  purer, 
the  stronger-minded,  so  much  the  more  can  he  control 
his  indignation,  and  not  let  it  rise  into  passion,  but 
punish  the  offender .  calmly,  though  sternly,  according  to 
law.  Even  so,  our  reason  bids  us  believe,  does  God, 
who  does  all  things  by  law.  His  eternal  laws  punish 
of  themselves,  just  as  they  reward  of  themselves.  The 
same  law  of  God  may  be  the  messenger  of  His  anger  to 
the  bad,  while  it  is  the  messenger  of  His  love  to  the 
good.  For  God  has  not  only  no  passions,  but  no  parts ; 
and  therefore  His  anger  and  His  love  are  not  different, 
but  the  same.  And  His  love  is  His  anger,  and  His 
anger  is  His  love. 

An  awful  thought  and  yet  a  blessed  thought.  Think 
of  it,  my  friends — think  of  it  day  and  night.  Under 
God's  anger,  or  under  God's  love,  we  must  be,  whether 
we  will  or  not.  We  cannot  flee  from  His  presence.  We 
cannot  go  from  His  spirit.  If  we  are  loving,  and  so  rise 
up  to  heaven,  God  is  there — in  love.  If  we  are  cruel, 
and  wrathful,  and  so  go  down  to  hell,  God  is  there  also 
— in  wrath  :  with  the  clean  He  will  be  clean,  with  the 
fioward  man  He  will  be  froward.  In  God  we  live  and 
move,  and  have  our  being.  On  us,  and  on  us  alone,  it 
depends,  what  sort  of  a  life  we  shall  live,  and  whether 
our  being  shall  be  happy  or  miserable.  On  us,  and  on 
us  alone,  it  depends,  whether  we  shall  live  under  God's 
anger,  or  live  under  God's  love.  On  us,  and  on  us 
alone,  it  depends  whether  the  eternal  and  unchangeable 


2  8o  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

God  shall  be  to  us  a  consuming  fire,  or  light,  and  life, 
and  bliss  for  evermore. 

We  never  had  more  need  to  think  of  this  than  now  ; 
for  there  has  spread  over  the  greater  part  of  the  civilised 
world  a  strong  spirit  of  disbelief  in  the  living  God.  Men 
do  not  believe  that  God  punishes  sin  and  wrong-doing, 
either  in  this  world  or  in  the  world  to  come.  And  it  is 
not  confined  to  those  who  are  called  infidels,  who  dis- 
believe in  the  incarnation  and  kingdom  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Would  to  God  it  were  so  !  Everywhere 
we  find  Christians  of  all  creeds  and  denominations  alike, 
holding  the  very  same  ruinous  notion,  and  saying  to 
themselves,  God  does  not  govern  this  present  world. 
God  does  not  punish  or  reward  in  this  present  life.  This 
world  is  all  wrong,  and  the  devil's  world,  and  therefore 
I  cannot  prosper  in  the  w^orld  unless  I  am  a  little  wrong 
likewise,  and  do  a  little  of  the  devil's  work.  So  one 
lies,  another  cheats,  another  oppresses,  another  neglects 
his  plainest  social  duties,  another  defiles  himself  with 
base  political  or  religious  intrigues,  another  breaks  the 
seventh  commandment,  or,  indeed,  any  and  every  one  of 
the  commandments  which  he  finds  troublesome.  And 
when  one  asks  in  astonishment — You  call  yourselves 
Christians  ?  You  believe  in  God,  and  the  Bible,  and 
Christianity  ?  Do  you  not  think  that  God  will  punish 
you  for  all  this  ?  Do  you  not  hear  from  the  psalmists,  and 
prophets,  and  apostles,  of  a  God  who  judges  and  punishes 
such  generations  as  this  ?  Of  a  wrath  of  God  which  is 
revealed  from  heaven  against  all  unrighteousness  of  men, 
who,  like  you,  hold  down  the  truth  in  unrighteousness, 
knowing  what  is  right  and  yet  doing  what  is  wrong  ? 


The  Kingdo7n  of  Heaven,  2  8 1 

Then  they  answer,  at  least  in  their  hearts,  Oh  dear  no  ! 
God  does  not  govern  men  now,  or  judge  men  now.  He 
only  did  so,  our  preachers  tell  us,  under  the  old  Jewish 
dispensation ;  and  such  words  as  you  quote  from  our 
Lord,  or  St  Paul,  have  only  to  do  with  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, and  the  next  life,  and  we  have  made  it  all  right 
for  the  next  life.  I,  says  one,  regularly  perform  my  re- 
ligious duties ;  and  I,  says  another,  build  churches  and 
chapels,  and  give  large  sums  in  charity ;  and  I,  says 
another,  am  converted,  and  a  member  of  a  church  ;  and 
I,  says  another,  am  elect,  and  predestined  to  everlasting 
life — and  so  forth,  and  so  forth.  Each  man  turning  the 
grace  of  God  into  a  cloak  for  licentiousness,  and  delud- 
ing himself  into  the  notion  that  he  may  break  the  eter- 
nal laws  of  God,  and  yet  go  to  heaven,  as  he  calls  it, 
when  he  dies  :  not  knowing,  poor  foolish  man,  that  as 
the  noble  commination  service  well  says,  the  dreadful 
judgments  of  God  are  not  waiting  for  certain  people  at 
the  last  day,  thousands  of  years  hence,  but  hanging  over 
all  our  heads  already,  and  always  ready  to  fall  on  us. 
Not  knowincr  that  it  is  as  true  now  as  it  was  two  thou- 
sand  years  ago,  that  ''  God  is  a  righteous  judge,  strong 
and  patient."  "  If  a  man  will  not  turn.  He  will  whet 
His  sword  ;  He  hath  bent  His  bow,  and  made  it  ready," 
against  those  who  travail  with  mischief,  who  conceive 
sorrow,  and  bring  forth  ungodliness.  They  dig  up  pits 
for  their  neighbours,  and  fall  themselves  into  the  destruc- 
tion which  they  have  made  for  others;  not  knowing  that 
it  is  as  true  now  as  it  was  two  thousand  years  ago,  that 
God  is  for  ever  saying  to  the  ungodly,  ''  Why  dost  thou 
preach  my  laws,  and  takest  my  covenant  in  thy  mouth  ; 


282  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

whereas  tlioii  Latest  to  be  reformed,  and  hast  cast  my 
words  behind  thee  ?  Thou  hast  let  thy  mouth  speak 
wickedness,  and  with  thy  tongue  thou  hast  set  forth  deceit. 
These  things  hast  thou  done,  and  I  held  my  tongue, 
and  thou  thoughtest,  wickedly,  that  I  am  even  such  a 
one  as  thyself  But  I  will  reprove  thee,  and  set  before 
thee  the  things  which  thou  hast  done.  O  consider  this, 
ye  that  forget  God  :  lest  I  pluck  you  away,  and  there 
be  none  to  deliver  you." 

Let  us  lay  this  to  heart,  and  say,  there  can  be  no 
doubt — I  at  least  have  none — that  there  is  growing  up 
among  us  a  serious  divorce  between  faith  and  practice; 
a  serious  disbelief  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  about 
us,  and  that  Christ  is  ruling  us,  as  He  told  us  plainly 
enough  in  His  parables,  by  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  and  that  He  does,  and  will  punish  and  reward 
each  man  according  to  those  laws,  and  according  to 
nothing  else. 

We  pride  ourselves  on  our  superior  light,  and  our 
improved  civilisation,  and  look  down  on  the  old  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries,  who  converted  our  forefathers  from 
heathendom  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Now,  I  am  a  Pro- 
testant, if  ever  there  was  one,  and  I  know  well  that  these 
men  had  their  superstitions  and  false  doctrines.  They 
made  mistakes,  and  often  worse  than  mistakes,  for  they 
were  but  men.  But  this  I  tell  you,  that  if  they  had 
not  had  a  deep  and  sound  belief  that  they  were  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  and  that  they 
and  all  men  must  obey  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  and  that  the  first  law  of  it  was,  that  wrong- 
doing would  be  punished,  and   rightdoing  rewarded,  in 


The  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  283 

this  life,  every  day,  and  all  day  long,  as  sure  as  Christ 
the  living  Lord  reigned  in  righteousness  over  all  the 
earth ;  if  they  had  not  believed  that,  I  say,  and  acted  on 
it,  we  should  probably  have  been  heathen  at  this  day. 
As  it  is,  unless  we  Protestants  get  back  the  old  be- 
lief, that  God  is  a  living  God,  and  that  His  judgments 
are  abroad  in  the  earth,  and  that  only  in  keeping  His 
commandments  can  we  get  life,  and  not  perish,  we 
shall  be  seriously  in  danger  of  sinking  at  last  into  that 
hopeless  state  of  popular  feeling,  into  which  more  than 
one  nation  in  our  own  time  has  fallen, — that,  as  the 
prophet  of  old  says,  a  wonderful  and  horrible  thing  is 
committed  in  the  land  ;  the  prophets — that  is,  the 
preachers  and  teachers  —  prophesy  falsely  ;  and  the 
priests — the  ministers  of  religion — bear  rule  by  their 
means ;  and  my  people  love  to  have  it  so — love  to  have 
their  consciences  drugged  by  the  news  that  they  may 
live  bad  lives,  and  yet  die  good  deaths. 

'*And  what  will  ye  do  in  the  end  thereof?"  asks 
Jeremiah.  What  indeed  !  What  the  Jews  did  in  the 
end  thereof  you  may  read  in  the  book  of  the  prophet 
Jeremiah.  They  did  nothing,  and  could  do  nothing — 
with  their  morality  their  manhood  was  gone.  Sin  had 
borne  its  certain  fruit  of  anarchy  and  decrepitude.  Tlie 
wrath  of  God  revealed  itself  as  usual,  by  no  miracle,  but 
through  inscrutable  social  laws.  They  had  to  submit, 
cowardly  and  broken-hearted,  to  an  invasion,  a  siege,  and 
an  utter  ruin.  I  do  not  say,  God  forbid,  that  we  shall 
ever  sink  so  low,  and  have  to  endure  so  terrible  a 
chastisement :  but  this  I  say,  that  the  only  way  in 
which  any  nation  of  which  I  ever  read  in   history,  can 


284  The  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

escape,  sooner  or  later,  from  sucli  a  fate,  is  to  remember 
every  day,  and  all  day  long,  that  the  wrath  of  God 
is  revealed  from  heaven  against  all  ill-doing  of  men, 
who  hold  the  truth  in  unrighteousness,  knowing  what 
is  true  and  what  is  right,  yet  telling  lies,  and  doing 
wrong. 

Let  us  lay  this  to  heart,  with  seriousness  and  godly 
fear.  For  so  we  shall  look  up  with  reverence,  and  yet 
with  hope,  to  Christ  the  ascended  king,  to  whom  all 
power  is  given  in  heaven  and  earth;  for  ever  asking  Him 
for  His  Holy  Spirit,  to  put  into  our  minds  good  desires, 
and  to  enable  us  to  bring  these  desires  to  good  effect. 
And  so  we  shall  live  for  ever  under  our  great  tPtsk- 
master's  eye,  and  find  out  that  that  eye  is  not  merely 
the  eye  of  a  just  judge,  not  merely  the  eye  of  a  bounti- 
ful king,  but  more  the  eye  of  a  loving  and  merciful 
Saviour,  in  Vv^hose  presence  is  life  even  here  on  earth  ; 
and  at  whose  right  hand,  even  in  this  sinful  world,  are 
pleasures  for  evermore. 


bfiRMON  XXXL 

THE    UNCHANGEABLE    CHRIST. 

Emrdey.     1845. 

Hebrews  xiii.  8. 
"Jesus  Christ  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever." 

Let  me  first  briefly  remind  you,  as  the  truth  upon  which 
my  whole  exj^lanation  of  this  text  is  built,  that  man 
is  not  meant  either  for  solitude  or  independence.  He 
is  meant  to  live  with  his  fellow-men,  to  live  hy  them, 
and  to  live  for  them.  He  is  healthy  and  godly,  only 
when  he  knows  all  men  for  his  brothers  ;  and  himself, 
in  some  way  or  other,  as  the  servant  of  all,  and  bound 
in  ties  of  love  and  duty  to  every  one  around  him. 

It  is  not,  however,  my  intention  to  dwell  upon  this 
truth,  deep  and  necessary  as  it  is,  but  to  turn  your 
attention  to  one  of  its  consequences  ;  I  mean  to  the 
disappointment  and  regret  of  which  so  many  complain, 
who  try,  more  or  less  healthily,  to  keep  that  truth  be- 
fore them,  and  shew  it  forth  in  their  daily  life. 

It  has  been,  and  is  now,  a  common  complaint  with 
many  who  interest  themselves  about  their  fellow- 
creatures,  and  the  welfare  of  the  human  race,  that  no- 
thing in  this  world  is  sure, — nothing  is  permanent  ;  a 
continual    ebb   and    flow   seems  to  be    the   only  law  of 


286  The  Unchangeable  Christ, 

human  life.  Men  change,  they  say ;  their  friendships 
are  fickle  ;  their  minds,  like  their  bodies,  alter  from  day 
to  day.  The  heart  whom  you  trust  to-day,  to-morrow 
may  deceive ;  the  friend  for  whom  you  have  sacrificed  so 
much,  will  not  in  his  turn  endure  the  trial  of  his  friend- 
ship. The  child  on  whom  you  may  have  reposed  your 
whole  affection  for  years,  grows  up  and  goes  forth  into 
the  world,  and  forms  new  ties,  and  you  are  left  alone. 
Why  then  love  man  ?  Why  care  for  any  born  of 
woman,  if  the  happiness  which  depends  on  them  is 
exposed  to  a  thousand  chances — a  thousand  changes  ? 
Again  ;  we  hear  the  complaint  that  not  only  men,  but 
circumstances  change.  Why  knit  myself,  people  will 
ask,  to  one  who  to-morrow  may  be  whirled  away  from 
me  by  some  eddy  of  circumstances,  and  so  go  on  his 
way,  while  I  see  him  no  more  ?  Why  relieve  distress 
which  fresh  accidents  may  bring  back  again  to-morrow, 
with  all  its  miseries  \  Why  attach  ourselves  to  a  home 
which  we  may  leave  to-morrow, — to  pursuits  which  fortune 
may  force  us  to  relinquish, — to  bright  hopes  which  the 
rolling  clouds  may  shut  out  from  us, — to  opinions  which 
the  next  generation  may  find  to  have  been  utterly 
mistaken, —  to  a  circle  of  acquaintances  who  must  in  a 
few  years  be  lying  silent  and  solitary,  each  in.  his  grave  ? 
Why,  in  short,  set  our  affections  on  anything  in  this 
earth,  or  struggle  to  improve  or  settle  aught  in  a  world 
where  all  seems  so  temporary,  changeful,  and  uncertain, 
that  "  nought  doth  endure  but  mutability  ?  " 

Such  is  and  has  been  the  complaint,  mixed  up  of 
truth  and  falsehood,  poured  out  for  ages  by  thousands 
who  have  loved  (as  the  world  would  sa,}^)  "  too  well " — 


The  Unchangeable  Christ,  287 

who  have  tried  to  build  up  for  themselves  homes  in 
this  world  ;  forgetting  that  they  were  strangers  and 
pilgrims  in  it ;  and  so,  when  the  floods  came,  and  swept 
away  that  small  fool's  paradise  of  theirs,  repined,  and 
were  astonished,  as  though  some  strange  thing  had 
happened  to  them. 

The  time  would  fail  me  did  I  try  fully  to  lay  before 
you  how  this  dread  and  terror  of  change,  and  this  un- 
satisfied craving  after  an  eternal  home  and  an  unchang- 
iDg  friendship  embittered  the  minds  of  all  the  more 
thoughtful  heathens  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  who, 
as  the  apostle  says,  all  their  lives  were  in  bondage  to 
the  fear  of  death.  How  all  their  schemes  and  concep- 
tions of  the  course  of  this  world,  resolved  themselves 
into  one  dark  picture  of  the  terrible  river  of  time,  rest- 
less, pitiless,  devouring  all  life  and  beauty  as  fast  as  it 
arose,  ready  to  overwhelm  the  speakers  themselves  also 
v/ith  the  coming  wave,  as  it  had  done  all  they  loved  be- 
fore them,  and  then  roll  onward  for  ever,  none  knew 
whither!  The  time  would  fail  me,  too,  did  I  try  to 
explain  how  after  He  had  appeared,  Who  is  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever,  men  have  still  found  the 
same  disappointment  in  all  the  paths  of  life.  Many, 
not  seeing  that  the  manifestation  of  an  incarnate  God 
was  the  answer  to  all  such  doubts,  the  healer  of  all  such 
wounds,  have  sickened  at  this  same  change  and 
uncertainty,  and  attemjDted  self-deliverance  by  all  kinds 
of  uncouth  and  most  useless  methods.  Some  have 
shielded  themselves,  or  tried  to  shield  themselves,  in  an 
armour  of  stoical  indifference — of  utter  selfishness,  being 


288  The  Unchangeable  Christ. 

sure  that  at  all  events  there  was  one  friendship  in  the 
world  which  could  neither  change  nor  fade — Self-love. 

Others,  again,  have  withdrawn  themselves  in  disgust, 
not  indeed  from  their  God  and  Saviour,  but  from  their 
fellow-men,  and  buried  themselves  in  deserts,  hoping 
thereby  to  escape  what  they  despaired  of  conquering,  the 
chances  and  changes  of  this  mortal  life.  Thus  they, 
alas,  threw  away  the  gold  of  human  affections  among  the 
dross  of  this  world's  comfort  and  honour.  Wiser  they 
were,  indeed,  than  those  last  mentioned  ;  but  yet  shew 
I  you  a  more  excellent  way. 

It  is  strange,  and  mournful,  too,  that  this  complaint 
of  unsatisfied  hopes  and  longings  should  still  be  often 
heard  from  Christian  lips  !  Strange,  indeed,  when  the 
object  and  founder  of  our  religion,  the  king  and  head  of 
all  our  race,  the  God  whom  we  are  bound  to  worship,  the 
eldest  brother  whom  we  are  bound  to  love,  the  Saviour 
who  died  upon  the  cross  for  ns,  is  "  the  same  yesterday, 
and  to-day,  and  for  ever  ! "  Strange,  indeed,  when  we 
remember  that  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  that  He 
might  save  humanity  and  its  hopes  from  perpetual 
change  and  final  destruction,  and  satisfy  all  those  crav- 
ings after  an  immutable  object  of  man's  loyalty  and 
man's  love. 

Yes,  He  has  given  us,  in  Himself,  a  king  who  can 
never  misgovern,  a  teacher  who  can  never  mislead,  a  priest 
whose  sacrifice  can  never  be  unaccepted,  a  protector  who 
can  never  grow  weary,  a  friend  who  can  never  betray. 
And  all  that  this  earth  has  in  it  really  worth  loving, — - 
the  ties  of  family,  of  country,  of  universal  brotherhood — ■ 
the  beauties  and  wonders  of  God's  mysterious  universe — - 


The  Unchangeable  Christ,  289 

all  true  love,  all  useful  labour,  all  innocent  enjoy- 
ment— the  marriage  bed,  and  the  fireside  circle — the 
bounties  of  harvest,  and  the  smiles  of  spring,  and  all  that 
makes  life  bright  and  this  earth  dear — all  these  things 
He  has  restored  to  man,  spiritual  and  holy,  deep  with 
new  meaning,  bright  with  purer  enjoyment,  rich  with  use- 
fulness, not  merely  for  time,  but  for  eternity,  after  they 
had  become,  through  the  accumulated  sin  and  folly  of 
ages,  foul,  dead,  and  well  nigh  forgotten.  He  has  united 
these  common  duties  and  pleasures  of  man's  life  to  Him- 
self, by  taking  them  on  Himself  on  earth  ;  by  giving  U3 
His  spirit  to  understand  and  fulfil  those  duties ;  by  making 
it  a  duty  to  Him  to  cultivate  them  to  the  uttermost.  He 
has  sanctified  them  for  ever,  by  shewing  us  that  they  are 
types  and  patterns  of  still  higher  relations  to  Himself, 
and  to  His  Father  and  our  Father,  from  whom  they 
came. 

Christ  our  Lord  and  Saviour  is  a  witness  to  us  of  the 
enduring,  the  everlasting  nature  of  all  that  human 
life  contains  of  beauty  and  holiness,  and  real  value. 
He  is  a  witness  to  us  that  Wisdom  is  eternal ;  that 
that  all-embracing  sight,  that  all-guiding  counsel,  which 
the  Lord  ''  possessed  in  the  beginning  of  His  way, 
before  His  works  of  old,"  He  who  ''  was  set  up  from 
everlasting,"  who  was  with  Him  when  He  made  the 
world,  still  exists,  and  ever  shall  exist,  unchanged. 
The  word  of  the  Lord  standeth  sure !  That  Word 
which  was  ''in  the  beginning,"  and  "was  with  God,'* 
and  "  was  God  ! "  Glorious  truth !  that,  amid  all  the 
inventions  which  man  has  sought  out,  while  every  new 
philosopher  has  been  starting  some   new  method  of  hap- 

T 


290  The  Unchangeable  Christ. 

piness,  some  new  theory  of  human  life  and  its  destinies, 
God  has  still  been  working  onward,  unchecked,  unaltered, 
"the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever."  O,  sons 
of  men  !  perplexed  by  all  the  apparent  contradictions 
and  cross  purposes  and  opposing  powers  and  principles  of 
this  strange,  dark,  noisy  time,  remember  to  your  comfort 
that  your  King,  a  man  like  you,  yet  very  God,  now  sits 
above,  seeing  through  all  which  you  cannot  see  through  ; 
unravelling  surely  all  this  tangled  web  of  time,  while 
under  His  guiding  eye  all  things  are  moving  silently 
onward,  like  the  stars  in  their  courses  above  you,  toward 
their  appointed  end,  ''  when  He  shall  have  put  down  all 
rule  and  all  authority,  and  power,  for  He  must  reign,  till 
He  hath  put  all  enemies  under  His  feet."  And  then^ 
at  last,  this  cloudy  sky  shall  be  all  clear  and  bright,  for 
He,  the  Lamb,  shall  be  the  light  thereof. 

Christ  is  the  witness  to  us  also  of  the  eternity  of  Love, 
■ — Of  God's  love — the  love  of  the  Father  who  wills,  of 
Himself  who  has  purchased,  of  the  Holy  Ghost  who 
works  in  us  our  salvation  ;  and  of  the  eternity  of  all 
love ;  that  true  love  is  not  of  the  flesh,  but  of  the 
spirit,  and  therefore  hath  its  root  in  the  spiritual  world, 
above  all  change  and  accidents  of  time  or  circumstance. 
Think,  think,  my  friends.  For  what  is  life  that  we 
should  make  such  ado  about  it,  and  hug  it  so  closely, 
and  look  to  it  to  fill  our  hearts  ?  What  is  all  earthly 
life  with  all  its  bad  and  good  luck,  its  riches  and  its 
poverty,  but  a  vapour  that  passes  away  ? — noise  and 
smoke  overclouding  the  enduring  light  of  heaven.  A 
man  may  be  very  happy  and  blest  in  this  life  ;  yet  he 
may  feel   that^  however  pleasant  it  is,  at   root  it  is  no 


The  Unchangeable  Christ.  291 

reality,  but  only  a  shadow  of  realities  which  are  eternal 
and  infinite  in  the  bosom  of  God,  a  piece- meal  pattern  of 
the  Light  Kingdom — the  city  not  made  with  hands — 
eternal  in  the  heavens.  For  all  this  time-world,  as  a 
wise  man  says,  is  but  like  an  image,  beautifully  and 
fearfully  emblematic,  but  still  only  an  emblem,  like  an 
air  image,  which  plays  and  flickers  in  the  grand,  still 
mirror  of  eternity.  Out  of  nothing,  into  time  and  space 
we  all  came  into  noisy  day ;  and  out  of  time  and  space 
into  the  silent  night  shall  we  all  return  into  the  spirit 
world — the  everlasting  twofold  mystery — into  the  light- 
world  of  God's  love^  or  the  fire-world  of  His  anger — ■ 
every  like  unto  its  like,  and  every  man  to  his  ovn 
place. 

"  Choose  well,  your  choice  is 
Brief  but  yet  endless ; 
From  Heaven,  eyes  behold  you 
In  eternity's  stillness. 
There  all  is  fullness, 
Ye  brave  to  reward  you  5 
Work  and  despair  not.* 


SEEMON   XXXIL 

REFORMATION    LESSONS. 

Eversley.     1861. 

2  Kings  xxiii.  3,  4,  25,  26. 

"And  tlie  king  stood  by  a  pillar,  and  made  a  covenu,nt  before  the 
Lord,  to  walk  after  the  Lord,  and  to  keep  his  comntandments  and 
his  testimonies  and  his  statutes  with  all  their  heart  and  all  their 
soul,  to  perform  the  words  of  this  covenant  that  were  written  in 
this  book.  And  all  the  people  stood  to  the  covenant.  And  the 
king  commanded  Hilkiah  the  high  priest,  and  the  priests  of  the 
second  order,  and  the  keepers  of  the  door,  to  bring  forth  out  of 
the  temple  of  the  Lord  all  the  vessels  that  were  made  for  Baal,  and 
for  the  grove,  and  for  all  the  host  of  heaven  :  and  he  burned  them 
without  Jerusalem  in  the  fields  of  Kidron,  and  carried  the  ashes  of 
them  unto  Beth-el.  .  .  .  And  like  unto  him  was  there  no  king  before 
him,  that  turned  to  the  liord  with  all  his  heart,  and  with  all  his 
soul,  and  with  all  his  might,  according  to  all  the  law  of  Moses  ; 
neither  after  him  arose  there  any  like  him.  Notwithstanding  the 
Lord  turned  not  from  the  fierceness  of  his  great  wrath,  wherewith 
his  anger  was  kindled  against  Judah,  because  of  all  the  provoca- 
tions that  Manasseh  had  provoked  him  withal. " 

You  heard  this  chapter  read  as  the  first  lesson  for  this 
afternoon's  service  ;  and  a  lesson  it  is  indeed — a  lesson 
for  you  and  for  me,  as  it  was  a  lesson  for  our  forefathers. 
If  you  had  been  worshipping  in  this  church  three 
hundred  years  ago,  you  would  have  understood,  without 
my  telling  you,  why  the  good  and  wise  men  who  shaped 
our  prayer-book  chose  this  chapter  to  be  read  in  church. 
You  would  have  applied  the  words  of  it  to  the  times  in 


Reformation  Lessons.  293 

which  you  were  living.  You  would  have  felt  that  the 
chapter  sjDoke  to  you  at  once  of  joy  and  hope,  and  of 
sorrow  and  fear. 

There  is  no  doubt  at  all  what  our  forefathers  would 
have  thought  of,  and  did  think  of,  when  they  read  this 
chapter.  The  glorious  reformation  which  young  King 
Josiah  made  was  to  them  the  pattern  of  the  equally 
glorious  Reformation  which  was  made  in  England  some- 
what more  than  three  hundred  years  ago.  Young  King 
Josiah,  swearing  to  govern  according  to  the  law  of  the 
Lord,  was  to  them  the  pattern  of  young  King  Edward  YI. 
determining  to  govern  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Bible. 
The  finding  of  the  law  of  the  Lord  in  Josiah's  time,  after 
it  had  been  long  lost,  was  to  them  the  pattern  of  the 
sudden  spread  among  them  of  the  Bible,  which  had 
been  practically  hidden  from  them  for  hundreds  of  years, 
and  was  then  translated  into  English  and  printed,  and 
put  freely  into  the  hands  of  every  man,  rich  and  poor, 
who  was  able  to  read  it.  Kino^  Josiah's  destruction  of 
the  idols,  and  the  temples  of  the  false  gods,  and  driving 
out  the  wizards  and  workers  with  familiar  spirits,  were 
to  them  a  pattern  of  the  destruction  of  the  monasteries 
and  miraculous  images  and  popish  superstitions  of  every 
kind,  the  turning  the  monks  out  of  their  convents,  and 
forcing  them  to  set  to  honest  work — which  had  just 
taken  place  throughout  England.  And  the  hearts  of  all 
true  Englishmen  were  stirred  up  in  those  days  to  copy 
Josiah  and  the  people  of  Jeru  alcm,  and  turn  to  th?? 
Lord  with  all  their  heart,  and  with  all  their  soul,  and 
with  all  their  might,  according  to  God's  law  and  gospel, 
in  the  two  Testaments,  both  Old  and  New. 


294  Reformation  Lessons. 

One  would  have  thought  that  at  such  a  time  the 
hearts  of  our  forefathers  would  be  full  of  nothing  but 
hope  and  joy,  content  and  thankfulness.  And  yet  it 
was  not  so.  One  cannot  help  seeing  that  in  the  prayer- 
book,  which  was  put  together  in  those  days,  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  fear  and  sadness.  You  see  it  especially  in 
the  Litany,  which  was  to  be  said  not  only  on  Sundays, 
but  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays  also.  Some  people 
think  the  Litany  painfully  sad — too  sad.  It  was  not 
too  sad  for  the  time  in  which  it  was  written.  Our 
forefathers,  three  hundred  years  ago,  meant  w^hat  they 
said  when  they  cried  to  God  to  have  mercy  upon  them, 
miserable  sinners,  and  not  to  remember  their  offences 
nor  the  offences  of  their  forefathers,  &c.  They  meant, 
and  had  good  reason  to  mean,  what  they  said,  when 
they  cried  to  God  that  those  evils  which  the  craft  and 
subtilty  of  the  devil  and  men  were  working  against 
them  might  be  brought  to  nought,  and  by  the  providence 
of  His  goodness  be  dispersed — to  arise  and  help  and 
deliver  them  for  His  name's  sake  and  for  His  honour ; 
and  to  turn  from  them,  for  the  glory  of  His  name,  all 
those  evils  which  they  righteously  had  deserved.  They 
were  in  danger  and  in  terror,  our  forefathers,  three 
hundred  years  ago.  And  when  they  heard  this  lesson 
read  in  church,  it  was  not  likely  to  make  their  terror 
less. 

For  what  says  the  26th  verse  of  this  chapter? 
''  Notwithstanding,"  in  spite  of  all  this  reformation,  and 
putting  away  of  idols  and  determining  to  walk  according 
to  the  law  of  the  Lord,  "  the  Lord  turned  not  from  the 
fierceness  of  His  great  wrath,  wherewith  His  anger  was 


Reformation  Lessons,  295 

kindled  against  Judah."  And  what  followed  ?  Josiah 
was  killed  in  battle  — by  his  own  fault  too — by  Pharaoh 
Nechoh,  King  of  Egj^pt.  And  then  followed  nothing 
but  disaster  and  misery.  The  Jews  were  conquered  first 
by  the  King  of  Egypt,  and  taxed  to  pay  to  him  an 
enormous  tribute ;  and  then,  in  the  wars  between  Egypt 
and  Babylon,  conquered  a  second  time  by  the  King  of 
Babylon,  the  famous  Nebuchadnezzar,  in  that  dreadful 
siege  in  which  it  is  said  mothers  ate  their  own  children 
through  extremity  of  famine.  And  then  after  seventy 
years,  after  every  one  of  that  idolatrous  and  corrupt 
generation  had  died  in  captivity,  the  poor  Jews  were 
allowed  to  go  back  to  their  native  land,  chastened  and 
purged  in  the  fire  of  affliction,  and  having  learnt  a  lesson 
which,  to  do  them  justice,  they  never  forgot  again,  and 
have  not  forgotten  to  this  day  ;  that  to  worship  a  graven 
image,  as  well  as  to  work  unrighteousness,  is  abomina- 
tion to  the  Lord — that  God,  and  God  alone,  is  to  be 
worshijDped,  and  worshipped  in  holiness  and  purity,  in 
mercy  and  in  justice. 

And  it  was  some  such  fate  as  this,  some  terrible  ruin 
like  that  of  the  Jews  of  old,  that  our  forefathers  feared 
three  hundred  years  ago.  Their  hearts  were  not  yet 
altogether  right  with  God.  They  had  not  shaken  off 
the  bad  habits  of  mind,  or  the  bad  morals  either,  which 
they  had  learnt  in  the  old  Eomish  times — too  many  of 
them  were  using  their  liberty  as  a  cloak  of  licentious- 
ness ;  and,  under  pretence  of  religion,  plundering  not 
only  God's  Church,  but  God's  poor.  And  many  other 
evils  were  rife  in  England  then,  as  there  are  sure  to  be 
great  evils  side  by  side  with  great  good  in  any  country 


296  Reformation  Lessons, 

in  times  of  change  and  revolution.  And  so  our  fore- 
fathers needed  chastisement,  and  they  had  it.  King 
Edward,  upon  whom  the  Protestants  had  set  their  hopes, 
died  young ;  and  then  came  times  which  tried  them 
literally  as  by  fire.  First  came  the  terrible  persecutions 
in  Queen  Mary's  time,  when  hundreds  of  good  men  and 
women  were  burnt  alive  for  their  religion.  And  even 
after  her  death,  for  thirty  years,  came  times,  such  as 
Hezekiah  speaks  of — times  of  trouble  and  rebuke  and 
blasphemy,  plots,  rebellions,  civil  war,  at  home  and 
abroad  ;  dangers  that  grew  ever  more  and  more  terrible, 
till  it  seemed  at  last  certain  that  England  would  be  con- 
quered, in  the  Pope's  name,  by  the  King  of  Spain  :  and 
if  that  had  come  to  pass  (and  it  all  but  came  to  pass  in 
the  famous  year  1588),  the  King  of  Spain  would  have 
become  King  of  England ;  the  best  blood  of  England 
would  have  been  shed  upon  the  scaffold;  the  best  estates 
parted  among  Spaniards  and  traitors  ;  England  enslaved 
to  the  most  cruel  nation  of  those  times  ;  and  the  In- 
quisition set  up  to  persecute,  torture,  and  burn  all  who 
believed  in  what  they  called,  and  what  is,  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ.  That  was  to  have  happened,  and  it  was 
only,  as  our  forefathers  confessed,  by  the  infinite  mercy 
of  God  that  it  did  not  happen.  They  were  delivered 
strangely  and  suddenly,  as  the  Jews  were.  For  forty 
years  they  had  been  chastised,  and  purged  and  humbled 
for  their  sins  ;  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  came  times 
of  safety  and  prosperity,  honour  and  glory,  which  have 
lasted,  thanks  be  to  God,  ever  since. 

And  now,  my  dear  friends,  what  has  this  to  do  with 


Reformation  Lessons.  297 

us  ?     If  this  chapter   was  a  lesson  to  our  forefathers, 
how  is  it  to  be  a  lesson  to  us  likewise  ? 

I  have  always  told  you  (as  those  who  have  really 
understood  their  Bibles  in  all  ages  have  told  men)  that 
the  Bible  sets  forth  the  eternal  laws  of  God's  kingdom — 
the  laws  by  which  God,  that  is,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
governs  nations  and  kingdoms — and  not  only  nations 
and  kingdoms,  but  you  and  me,  and  every  individual 
Christian  man ;  *'  all  these  things,"  says  St  Paul,  are 
"written  for  our  admonition."  The  history  of  the  Jews 
is,  or  may  be,  your  history  or  mine,  for  good  or  for  evil; 
as  God  dealt  with  them,  so  is  He  dealing  with  you  and 
me.  By  their  experience  we  must  learn.  By  their 
chastisements  we  must  be  warned.  So  says  St  Paul. 
So  have  all  j)reachers  said  who  have  understood  St 
Paul — and  so  say  I  to  you.  And  the  lesson  that  we 
may  learn  from  this  chapter  is,  that  we  may  repent  and 
yet  be  punished. 

I  know  people  do  not  like  to  believe  that ;  I  know 
that  it  is  much  more  convenient  to  fancy  that  when  a 
man  repents,  and,  as  he  says,  turns  over  a  new  leaf,  he 
need  trouble  himself  no  more  about  his  past  sins.  But 
it  is  a  mistake ;  not  only  is  the  letter  and  spirit 
of  Scripture  against  him,  but  facts  are  against  him.  He 
may  not  choose  to  trouble  himself  about  his  past  sins  ; 
but  he  will  find  that  his  past  sins  trouble  him,  whether 
he  chooses  or  not, — and  that  often  in  a  very  terrible 
way,  as  they  troubled  those  poor  Jews  in  their  day,  and 
our  forefathers  after  the  Reformation. 

"  What  ?  "  some  will  say,  "  is  it  not  expressly  written 
in  Scripture   that  '  when  the  wicked   man  turneth  away 


/ 


298  Reformation  Lessons, 

from  his  wickedness  tliat  lie  hath  committed,  and  doeth 
that  which  is  lawful  and  right,  he  shall  save  his  soul 
alive  ? '  and  'all  his  transgressions  that  he  hath  com- 
mitted they  shall  not  be  mentioned  unto  him,'  but  that 
'in  his  righteousness  which  he  hath  done  he  shall 
live  ? ' " 

No  doubt  it  is  so  written,  my  friends.  And  no 
doubt  it  is  perfectly  and  literally  true  :  but  answer  me 
this,  when  does  the  wicked  man  do  that  which  is 
laAvful  and  right  ?  The  minute  after  he  has  repented  ? 
or  the  day  after  ?  or  even  seven  years  after  ? — the  minute 
after  he  is  forgiven,  and  received  freely  back  again  as  God's 
child,  as  he  will  be,  for  the  sake  of  that  j^recious  blood 
which  Christ  poured  out  upon  the  cross  ?  Would  to  God 
it  were  so,  my  friends.  Would  to  God  it  were  so  easy 
to  do  right,  after  having  been  accustomed  to  do  wrong. 
Would  to  God  it  were  so  easy  to  get  a  clean  heart  and  a 
right  spirit.  Would  to  God  it  were  so  easy  to  break 
through  all  the  old  bad  habits — perhaps  the  habits  of  a 
whole  life-time.  But  it  is  in  vain  to  expect  this  sudden 
change  of  character.  As  well  may  we  expect  a  man, 
who  has  been  laid  low  with  fever,  to  get  up  and  go  about 
to  his  work  the  moment  his  disease  takes  a  favourable 
turn. 

No.  After  the  forgiveness  of  sin  must  come  the  cure 
of  sin.  And  that  cure,  like  most  cures,  is  a  long  and  a 
painful  process.  The  sin  may  have  been  some  animal 
sin,  like  drunkenness  ;  and  we  all  know  how  difficult  it 
is  to  cure  that.  Or  it  may  have  been  a  spiritual  sin — ■ 
pride,  vanity,  covetousness.  Can  any  man  put  off  these 
bad  habits  in  a  moment,  as  he  puts  off  his  coat  ?     Those 


Reformation  Lessons.  299 

who  so  fancy,  can  know  very  little  of  human  nature,  and 
have  observed  their  own  hearts  and  their  fellow  crea- 
tures very  carelessly.  If  you  will  look  at  facts,  what 
you  will  find  is  this  : — that  all  sins  and  bad  habits  fill 
the  soul  with  evil  humours,  just  as  a  fever  or  any  other 
severe  disease  fills  the  body  ;  and  that,  as  in  the  case 
of  a  fever,  those  evil  humours  remain  after  the  acute 
disease  is  past,  and  are  but  too  apt  to  break  out  again, 
to  cause  relapses,  to  torment  the  poor  patient,  perhaps 
to  leave  his  character  crippled  and  disfigured  all  his  life — 
certainly  to  require  long  and  often  severe  treatment  by 
the  heavenly  ph^^sician,  Christ,  the  purifier  as  well  as 
the  redeemer  of  our  sin-sick  souls.  Heavy,  therefore, 
and  bitter  and  shameful  is  the  burden  which  many 
a  man  has  to  bear  after  he  has  turned  from  self  to  God, 
from  sin  to  holiness.  He  is  haunted,  as  it  were,  by  the 
ghosts  of  his  old  follies.  He  finds  out  the  bitter  truth 
of  St  Paul's  words,  that  there  is  another  law  in  his  body 
warring  against  the  law  of  his  mind,  of  his  conscience, 
and  his  reason  ;  so  that  when  he  would  do  good,  evil  is 
present  with  him.  The  good  that  he  would  do  he  does 
not  do ;  and  the  evil  that  he  would  not  do  he  does.  Till 
he  cries  with  St  Paul,  "  0  wretched  man  that  I  am  ! 
who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? "  and 
feels  that  none  can  deliver  him,  save  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord. 

Yes.  But  there  is  our  comfort,  there  is  our  hope — 
Christ,  the  great  healer,  the  great  physician,  can  deliver 
us,  and  will  deliver  us  from  the  remains  of  our  old  sins, 
the  consequences  of  our  own  follies.  Not,  indeed,  at 
once,  or  by  miracle  ;  but  by  slow  education  in  new  and 


300  Reformation  Lessons, 

nobler  motives,  in  purer  and  more  unselfish  habits.  And 
better  for  us,  perhaps,  that  Ho  should  not  cure  us  at 
once,  lest  we  should  fancy  that  sin  was  a  light  thing, 
which  we  could  throw  off  whenever  we  chose  ;  and  not 
what  it  is,  an  inward  disease,  corroding  and  corrupting, 
the  wages  whereof  are  death.  Therefore  it  is,  that 
because  Christ  loves  us  He  hates  our  sins,  and  cannot 
abide  or  endure  them,  will  punish  them,  and  is  merciful 
and  loving  in  punishing  them,  as  long  as  a  tincture  or 
remnant  of  sin  is  left  in  us. 

Let  us  then,  if  our  consciences  condemn  us  of  living 
evil  lives,  turn  and  repent  before  it  be  too  late ;  before 
our  consciences  are  hardened ;  before  the  purer  and 
nobler  feelings  which  we  learnt  at  our  mothers'  knees  are 
stifled  by  the  ways  of  the  world  ;  before  we  are  hardened 
into  bad  habits,  and  grown  frivolous,  sensual,  selfish  and 
worldly.  Let  us  repent.  Let  us  put  ourselves  into  the 
hands  of  Christ,  the  great  physician,  and  ask  Him  to 
heal  our  wounded  souls,  and  purge  our  corru23ted  souls  ; 
and  leave  to  Him  the  choice  of  how  He  will  do  it.  Let 
us  be  content  to  be  punished  and  chastised.  If  we 
deserve  punishment,  let  us  bear  it,  and  bear  it  like  men  ; 
as  we  should  bear  the  surgeon's  knife,  knowing  that  it  is 
for  our  good,  and  that  the  hand  which  inflicts  pain  is 
the  hand  of  one  who  so  loves  us,  that  He  stooped  to  die 
for  us  on  the  cross.  Let  Him  deal  with  us,  if  He  see 
fit,  as  He  dealt  with  David  of  old,  when  He  forgave  his 
sin,  and  yet  jxmished  it  by  the  death  of  his  child.  Let 
Him  do  what  He  will  by  us,  provided  He  does — what 
He  will  do — make  us  <>-ood  men. 

o 

That   is  what   we   need   to   be — just,  merciful,  pure, 


Refo7^7}iation  Lessons,  301 

faithful,  loyal,  useful,  honourable  with  true  honour,  in  the 
sight  of  God  and  man.  That  is  what  we  need  to  be. 
That  is  what  we  shall  be  at  last,  if  we  put  ourselves 
into  Christ's  hand,  and  ask  Him  for  the  clean  heart  and 
the  right  spirit,  which  is  His  own  spirit,  the  spirit  of 
all  goodness.  And  provided  we  attain,  at  last,  to  that — 
provided  we  attain,  at  last,  to  the  truly  heroic  and 
divine  life,  which  is  the  life  of  virtue,  it  will  matter 
little  to  us  by  what  wild  and  weary  ways,  or  through 
what  painful  and  humiliating  processes,  we  have  arrived 
thither.  If  God  has  loved  us,  if  God  will  receive  us, 
then  let  us  submit  loyally  and  humbly  to  His  law. 
'*  Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth 
every  son  whom  He  receiveth." 


SERMON    XXXIII. 

HUMAN    SOOT. 

Preached  for  the  KirMale  Ragged  Schools,  Liverpool^  1870. 

St  Matt,  xviii.  14. 

"  It  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of  these 
little  ones  should  perish." 

I  AM  here  to  plead  for  the  Kirkdale  Industrial  Ragged 
School,  and  Free  School-room  Church.  The  great 
majority  of  children  who  attend  this  school  belong  to 
the  class  of  "  street  arabs/'  as  they  are  now  called ;  and 
either  already  belong  to,  or  are  likely  to  sink  into, 
the  dangerous  classes — professional  law-breakers,  profli- 
gates, and  barbarians.  How  these  children  have  been 
fed,  civilized,  christianized,  taught  trades  and  domestic 
employments,  and  saved  from  ruin  of  body  and  soul,  I 
leave  to  you  to  read  in  the  report.  Let  us  take  hold 
of  these  little  ones  at  once.  They  are  now  soft,  plastic, 
rnouldable  ;  a  tone  will  stir  their  young  souls  to  the 
very  depths,  a  look  will  affect  them  for  ever.  But  a 
hardening  process  has  commenced  within  them,  and  if 
they  are  not  seized  at  once,  they  will  become  harder 
than  adamant ;  and  then  scalding  tears,  and  the  most 
earnest  trials,  >\ill  be  all  but  useless. 

This  report  contains  full   and    pleasant  proof  of  the 


Htiman  Soot,  303 

success  of  the  schools  ;  but  it  contaiDS  also  full  proof  of 
a  fact  which  is  anything  but  pleasant — of  the  existence 
in  Liverpool  of  a  need  for  such  an  institution.  How  is 
it  that  when  a  ragged  school  like  this  is  opened,  it  is 
filled  at  once  :  that  it  is  enlarged  year  after  year,  and 
yet  is  filled  and  filled  again  ?  Whence  comes  this  large 
population  of  children  who  are  needy,  if  not  destitute  ; 
and  who  are,  or  are  in  a  fair  way  to  become,  dangerous  1 
And  whence  comes  the  population  of  parents  whom  these 
children  represent  ?  How  is  it  that  in  Liverpool,  if  I 
am  rightly  informed,  more  than  four  hundred  and  fifty 
children  were  committed  by  the  magistrates  last  year  for 
various  offences  ;  almost  every  one  of  whom,  of  course, 
represents  several  more,  brothers,  sisters,  companions, 
corrupted  by  him,  or  corrupting  him.  You  have  your 
reformatories,  your  training  ships,  like  your  Akbar, 
which  I  visited  with  deep  satisfaction  yesterday  — 
institutions  which  are  an  honour  to  the  town  of 
Liverpool,  at  least  to  many  of  its  citizens.  But  how 
is  it  that  they  are  ever  needed  %  How  is  it — and  this, 
if  correct,  or  only  half  correct,  is  a  fact  altogether 
horrible — that  there  are  now  between  ten  and  twelve 
thousand  children  in  Liverpool  who  attend  no  school 
— twelve  thousand  children  in  ignorance  of  their  duty 
to  God  and  man,  in  training  for  that  dangerous  class, 
which  you  have,  it  seems,  contrived  to  create  in  this 
once  small  and  quiet  port  during  a  century  of  wonderful 
prosperity.  And  consider  this,  I  beseech  you — how 
is  it  that  the  experiment  of  giving  these  children 
a  fair  chance,  when  it  is  tried  (as  it  has  been  in  these 
schools)   has    succeeded  ?      I   do  not  wonder,   of  course. 


304  Human  Soot. 

that  it  has  succeeded,  for  I  know  Who  made  these 
children,  and  Who  redeemed  them,  and  Who  cares  for 
them  more  than  you  or  I,  or  their  best  friends,  can 
care  for  them.  But  do  you  not  see  that  the  very 
fixct  of  their  having  improved,  when  they  had  a  fair 
chance,  is  proof  positive  that  they  had  not  had  a  fair 
chance  before  ?     How  is  that,  my  friends  ? 

And  this  leads  me  to  ask  you  plainly-^  what  do  you 
consider  to  be  your  duty  toward  those  children  ;  what 
is  your  duty  toward  those  dangerous  and  degraded 
classes,  from  which  too  many  of  them  spring '{  You 
all  know  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan.  You 
all  know  how  he  found  the  poor  wounded  Jew  by 
the  wayside ;  and  for  the  mere  sake  of  their  common 
humanity,  simply  because  he  was  a  man,  though  lie 
would  have  scornfully  disclaimed  the  name  of  brother, 
bound  up  his  wounds,  set  him  on  his  own  beast,  led  him 
to  an  inn,  and  took  care  of  him. 

Is  yours  the  duty  which  the  good  Samaritan  felt  ? — ■ 
the  duty  of  mere  humanity  ?  How  is  it  your  duty 
to  deal,  then,  with  these  poor  children  ?  That,  and 
I  think  a  little  more.  Let  me  say  boldly,  I  think 
these  children  have  a  deeper  and  a  nearer  claim  on 
you  ;  and  that  you  must  not  pride  yourselves,  here  in 
Liverpool,  on  acting  the  good  Samaritan,  when  you  help 
a  ragged  school.  We  do  not  read  that  the  good 
Samaritan  was  a  merchant,  on  his  march,  at  the  bead 
of  his  own  caravan.  We  do  not  read  that  the  wounded 
man  was  one  of  his  own  servants,  or  a  child  of  one  of 
his  servants,  who  had  been  left  behind,  unable  from 
weakness  or  weariness   to  keep  pace  with    the  rest,  and 


Human  Soot.  305 

had  dropped  by  the  wayside,  till  the  vultures  and  the 
jackals  should  pick  his  bones.  Neither  do  we  read  that 
he  was  a  general,  at  the  head  of  an  advancing  army, 
and  that  the  poor  sufferer  was  one  of  his  own  rank  and 
file,  crippled  by  wounds  or  by  disease,  watching,  as  many 
a  poor  soldier  does,  his  comrades  march  past  to  victory, 
while  he  is  left  alone  to  die.  Still  less  do  we  hear  that 
the  sufferer  was  the  child  of  some  poor  soldier's  wife,  or 
even  of  some  drunken  camp-follower,  who  had  lost  her 
place  on  the  baggage-waggon,  and  trudged  on  with  the 
child  at  her  back,  through  dust  and  mire,  till,  in  despair, 
she  dropped  her  little  one,  and  left  it  to  the  mercies  of 
the  God  who  gave  it  her. 

In  either  case,  that  good  Samaritan  would  have 
known  what  his  duty  was.  I  trust  that  you  will  know, 
in  like  case,  what  your  duty  is.  For  is  not  this,  and 
none  other,  j^our  relation  to  these  children  in  your 
streets,  ragged,  dirty,  profligate,  sinking  and  perishing, 
of  whom  our  Lord  has  said — "  It  is  not  the  will  of  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  that  one  of  these  little  ones 
should  perish?"  It  is  not  His  will.  I  am  sure  that  it  is 
not  your  will  either.  I  believe  that,  with  all  my  heart. 
I  do  not  blame  you,  or  the  people  of  Liverpool,  nor  the 
people  of  any  city  on  earth,  in  our  present  imperfect 
state  of  civilisation,  for  the  existence  among  them  of 
brutal,  ignorant,  degraded,  helpless  people.  It  is  no 
one's  fault,  just  because  it  is  every  one's  fault — the 
fault  of  the  system.  But  it  is  not  the  will  of  God ; 
and  therefore  the  existence  of  such  an  evil  is  proof 
patent  and  sufficient  that  we  have  not  yet  discovered 
the  whole  will  of  God  about  this  matter ;  that  we  have 

u 


3o6  Htcman  Soot, 

not  yet  mastered  tlie  laws  of  true  political  economy; 
which  (like  all  other  natural  laws)  are  that  will  of  God 
revealed  in  facts.  Our  processes  are  hasty,  imperfect, 
barbaric — and  their  result  is  vast  and  rapid  production  : 
but  also  waste,  refuse,  in  the  shape  of  a  dangerous 
class.  We  know  well  how,  in  some  manufactures,  a 
certain  amount  of  waste  is  profitable — that  it  pa^^s 
better  to  let  certain  substances  run  to  refuse,  than  to 
use  every  product  of  the  manufacture  ;  as  in  a  steam 
mill,  where  it  pays  better  not  to  consume  the  whole  fuel, 
to  let  the  soot  escape,  though  every  atom  of  soot  is  so 
much  wasted  fuel.  So  it  is  in  our  present  social  system. 
It  pays  better,  capital  is  accumulated  more  rapidly,  by 
wasting  a  certain  amount  of  human  life,  human 
health,  human  intellect,  human  morals,  by  producing 
and  throwing  away  a  regular  percentage  of  human  soot — 
of  that  thinking,  acting  dirt,  which  lies  about,  and, 
alas  !  breeds  and  perpetuates  itself  in  foul  alleys  and 
low  public  houses,  and  all  dens  and  dark  places  of  the 
earth. 

But,  as  in  the  case  of  the  manufactures,  the  Nemesis 
comes,  swift  and  sure.  As  the  foul  vapours  of  the 
mine  and  the  manufactory  destroy  vegetation  and  injure 
health,  so  does  the  Nemesis  fall  on  the  world  of  man  ; 
so  does  that  human  soot,  these  human  poison  gases, 
infect  the  whole  society  which  has  allowed  them  to 
fester  under  its  feet. 

Sad,  but  not  hopeless  !  Dark,  but  not  without  a 
gleam  of  light  on  the  horizon  !  For  I  can  conceive 
a  time  when,  by  improved  chemical  science,  every  foul 
vapour    which    now    escapes    from    the    chimney    of   a 


Human  Soot,  307 

manufactory,  polluting  the  air,  destroying  the  vegetation, 
shall  be  seized,  utilised,  converted  into  some  profitable 
substance;  till  the  black  country  shall  be  black  no 
longer,  the  streams  once  more  crystal  clear,  the  trees 
once  more  luxuriant,  and  the  desert  which  man  has 
created  in  his  haste  and  greed  shall,  in  literal  fact, 
once  more  blossom  as  the  rose.  And  just  so  can  I  con- 
ceive a  time  when,  by  a  higher  civilisation,  formed  on  a 
political  economy  more  truly  scientific,  because  more 
truly  according  to  the  will  of  God,  our  human  refuse 
shall  be  utilised,  like  our  material  refuse,  when  man, 
as  man,  even  down  to  the  weakest  and  most  ignorant, 
shall  be  found  to  be  (as  he  really  is)  so  valuable,  that  it 
will  be  worth  while  to  preserve  his  health,  to  develop 
his  capabilities,  to  save  him  alive,  body,  intellect,  and 
character,  at  any  cost ;  because  men  will  see  that  a  man 
is,  after  all,  the  most  precious  and  useful  thing  on  the 
earth,  and  that  no  cost  spent  on  the  development  of 
human  beings  can  possibly  be  thrown  away. 

I  appeal,  then,  to  you,  the  commercial  men  of 
Liverpool,  if  there  are  any  such  in  this  congregation. 
If  not,  I  appeal  to  their  wives  and  daughters,  who  are 
kept  in  wealth,  luxury,  refinement,  by  the  honourable 
labours  of  their  husbands,  fathers,  brothers,  on  behalf 
of  this  human  soot.  Merchants  are  (and  I  believe  that 
they  deserve  to  be)  the  leaders  of  the  great  caravan, 
which  goes  forth  to  replenish  the  earth  and  subdue  it. 
They  are  among  the  generals  of  the  great  army  which 
wages  war  against  the  brute  powers  of  nature  all  over 
the  world,  to  ward  off  poverty  and  starvation  from  the 
ever-teeming  millions  of  mankind.     Have  they  no  time  — 


3o8  Human  Soot, 

I  take  for  granted  that  they  have  the  heart — to  pick 
up  the  footsore  and  weary,  who  have  fallen  out  of  the 
march,  that  they  may  rejoin  the  caravan,  and  be  of  use 
once  more  ?  Have  they  no  time — I  am  sure  they  have 
the  heart — to  tend  the  wounded  and  the  fever-stricken, 
that  they  may  rise  and  fight  once  more  ?  If  not,  then 
must  not  the  pace  of  their  march  be  somewhat  too 
rapid,  the  plan  of  their  campaign  somewhat  precipitate 
and  ill- directed,  their  ambulance  train  and  their  medical 
arrangements  somewhat  defective  ?  We  are  all  ready 
enough  to  complain  of  waste  of  human  bodies,  brought 
about  by  such  defects  in  the  British  army.  Shall  we 
pass  over  the  waste,  the  hereditary  waste  of  human 
souls,  brought  about  by  similar  defects  in  every  great 
city  in  the  world  ? 

Waste  of  human  souls,  human  intellects,  human 
characters — waste,  saddest  of  all,  of  the  image  of  God  in 
little  children.  That  cannot  be  necessary.  There  must 
be  a  fault  somewhere.  It  cannot  be  the  will  of  God 
that  one  little  one  should  perish  by  commerce,  or  by 
manufacture,  any  more  than  by  slavery,  or  by  war. 

As  surely  as  I  believe  that  there  is  a  God,  so  surely 
do  I  believe  that  commerce  is  the  ordinance  of  God  ; 
that  the  great  army  of  producers  and  distributors  is 
God's  army.  But  for  that  very  reason  I  must  believe 
that  the  production  of  human  refuse,  the  waste  of 
human  character,  is  not  part  of  God's  plan ;  not  accord- 
ing to  His  ideal  of  what  our  social  state  should  be ; 
and  therefore  what  our  social  state  can  be.  For  God 
asks  no  impossibilities  of  any  human  being. 

But  as  things  are,  one  has  only  to  go  into  the  streets 


Human  Soot.  309 

of  this,  or  any  great  city,  to  see  how  we,  with  all  our 
boasted  civilisation,  are,  as  yet,  but  one  step  removed 
from  barbarism.  Is  that  a  hard  word  ?  Why,  there 
are  the  barbarians  around  us  at  every  street  corner  ! 
Grown  barbarians — it  may  be  now  all  but  past  saving — 
but  bringing  into  the  world  young  barbarians,  whom  we 
may  yet  save,  for  God  wishes  us  to  save  them.  It  is 
not  the  will  of  their  Father  which  is  in  heaven  that  one 
of  them  should  perish.  And  for  that  very  reason  He 
has  given  them  capabilities,  powers,  instincts,  by  virtue 
of  which  they  need  not  perish.  Do  not  deceive  your- 
selves about  the  little  dirty,  offensive  children  in  the 
street.  If  they  be  offensive  to  you,  they  are  not  to 
Him  who  made  them.  ''Take  heed  that  ye  despise 
not  one  of  these  little  ones  ;  for  I  say  unto  you.  That 
in  heaven  their  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of 
my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Is  there  not  in 
every  one  of  them,  as  in  you,  the  Light  which  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world  ?  And  know 
you  not  Who  that  Light  is,  and  what  He  said  of  little 
children  ?  Then,  take  heed,  I  say,  lest  you  despise  one 
of  these  little  ones.  Listen  not  to  the  Pharisee  when 
he  says.  Except  the  little  child  be  converted,  and  become 
as  I  am,  he  shall  in  nowise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  But  listen  to  the  voice  of  Him  who  knew 
what  was  in  man,  when  He  said,  "  Except  ye  be 
converted,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Their  souls  are 
like  their  bodies,  not  perfect,  but  beautiful  enough, 
and  fresh  enough,  to  shame  any  one  who  shall  dare 
to  look    down  on  them.       Their    souls    are    like   their 


3IO  Httman  Soot. 

bodies,  hidden  by  the  rags,  foul  with  the  dirt  of  what 
we  miscall  civilisation.  But  take  them  to  the  pure 
stream,  strip  off  the  ugly,  shapeless  rags,  wash  the 
young  limbs  again,  and  you  shall  find  them,  body 
and  soul,  fresh  and  lithe,  graceful  and  capable  — 
capable  of  how  much,  God  alone  who  made  them  knows. 
Well  said  of  such,  the  great  Christian  poet  of  your 
northern  hills — 

**Not  in  entire  forgetfulness, 
And  not  iu  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 
From  God,  who  is  our  home." 

Truly,  and  too  truly,  alas  !  he  goes  on  to  say — 

'*  Shades  of  the  prison-house  begin  to  close 
Upon  the  growing  boy." 

Will  you  let  the  shades  of  that  prison-house  of  mortality 
be  peopled  with  little  save  obscene  phantoms  ?  Truly, 
and  too  truly,  he  goes  on — 

"  The  youth,  who  daily  further  from  the  east 
Must  travel,  still  is  Nature's  priest, 
And  by  the  vision  splendid, 
Is  on  his  way  attended." 

Will  you  leave  the  youth  to  know  nature  only  in  the 
sense  in  which  an  ape  or  a  swine  knows  it ;  and  to 
conceive  of  no  more  splendid  vision  than  that  which  he 
may  behold  at  a  penny  theatre  ?  Truly  again,  and  too 
truly,  he  goes  on — 

*'  At  length  the  man  perceives  it  die  away, 
And  fade  into  the  light  of  common  day." 

Yes,  to  weak,  mortal  man  the  prosaic  age  of  manhood 
must  needs  come,  for  good  as  well  as  for  evil.  But  will 
yon  let  that  age  be — to  ixny  of  your  fellow  citizens — not 


Human  Soot,  3 1 1 

even  an  age  of  rational  prose,  but  an  age  of  brutal 
recklessness  ;  while  the  light  of  common  day,  for  him, 
has  sunk  into  the  darkness  of  a  common  sewer  ? 

And  all  the  while  it  was  not  the  will  of  their  Father 
in  heaven  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish. 
Is  it  your  will,  my  friends  ;  or  is  it  not  ?  If  it  be  not, 
the  means  of  saving  them,  or  at  least  the  great  majority 
of  them,  is  easier  than  you  think.  Circumstances  drag 
downward  from  childhood,  poor,  weak,  fallen,  human 
nature.  Circumstances  must  help  it  upward  again  once 
more.  Do  your  best  to  surround  the  wild  children 
of  Liverpool  with  such  circumstances  as  you  put  round 
your  own  children.  Deal  with  them  as  you  wish  God 
to  deal  with  your  beloved.  Remember  that,  as  the 
wise  man  says,  the  human  plant,  like  the  vegetable, 
thrives  best  in  light ;  and  you  will  discover,  by  the 
irresistible  logic  of  facts,  by  the  success  of  your  own 
endeavours,  by  seeing  these  young  souls  grow,  and  not 
wither,  live,  and  not  die — that  it  is  not  the  will  of 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  that  one  of  these  little 
ones  snould  perisix. 


SERMON    XXXIV. 

NATIONAL  SORROWS  AND  NATIONAL  LESSONS. 

On  the  Illness  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

Chapel  Royal,  St  Jameses,  December  I7th,  1871. 

2  Sam.  xix.  14. 

"  He  bowed  the  heart  of  all  the  men  of  Judah,  even  as  the  heart 
of  one  man." 

No  circumstances  can  be  more  different,  thank  God, 
than  those  under  which  the  heart  of  the  men  of  Judah 
was  bowed  when  their  king  commander  appealed  to 
them,  and  those  which  have,  in  the  last  few  days, 
bowed  the  heart  of  this  nation  as  the  heart  of  one  man. 
But  the  feeling  called  out  in  each  case  was  the  same — - 
Loyalty,  spontaneous,  contagious,  some  would  say  un- 
reasoning :  but  it  may  be  all  the  deeper  and  nobler, 
because  for  once  it  did  not  wait  to  reason,  but  was  con- 
tent to  be  human,  and  to  feel. 

If  those  men  who  have  been  so  heartily  loyal  of  late 
— respectable,  business-like,  manful  persons,  of  a  race 
in  nowise  given  to  sentimental  excitement — had  been 
asked  the  cause  of  the  intense  feeling  which  they  have 
shown  during  the  last  few  days,  they  would  probably, 
most  of  them,  find  some  difficulty  in  giving  it.  Many 
would  talk  frankly  of  their  dread  lest  business  should  be 


National  Sorroivs  and  National  Lessons.    3x3 

interfered  with  ;  and  no  sliame  to  them,  if  they  live  by 
business.  Others  would  speak  of  possible  political  com- 
plications ;  and  certainly  no  blame  to  tiiem  for  dreading 
such.  But  they  would  most  of  them  speak,  as  frankly, 
of  a  deeper  and  less  selfish  emotion.  They  would  speak, 
not  eloquently  it  may  be,  but  earnestly,  of  sympathy 
with  a  mother  and  a  wife ;  of  sympathy  with  youth 
and  health  fighting  untimely  with  disease  and  death — 
they  would  plead  their  common  humanity,  and  not  be 
ashamed  to  have  yielded  to  that  touch  of  nature,  which 
makes  the  whole  world  kin.  And  that  would  be 
altogether  to  their  honour.  Honourably  and  gracefully 
has  that  sympathy  showed  itself  in  these  realms  of  late. 
It  has  proved  that  in  spite  of  all  our  covetousness,  all 
our  luxury,  all  our  frivolity,  we  are  not  cynics  yet,  nor 
likely,  thanks  be  to  Almighty  God,  to  become  cynics  ; 
that  however  encrusted  and  cankered  with  the  cares  and 
riches  of  this  world,  and  bringing,  alas,  very  little  fruit 
to  perfection,  the  old  British  oak  is  sound  at  the  root — 
still  human,  still  humane. 

But  there  is,  I  believe,  another  and  an  almost  deeper 
reason  for  the  strong  emotion  which  has  possessed  these 
men  ;  one  most  intimately  bound  up  with  our  national 
life,  national  unity,  national  history ;  one  which  they 
can  hardly  express  to  themselves ;  one  which  some  of 
them  are  half  ashamed  to  express,  because  they  cannot 
render  a  reason  for  it ;  but  which  is  still  there,  deeply 
rooted  in  their  souls  ;  one  of  those  old  hereditary  in- 
stincts by  which  the  histories  of  whole  nations,  whole 
races,  are  guided,  often  half-unconsciously,  and  almost 
in  spite  of  themselves ;  and  that  is  Loyalty,  pure  and 


3 1 4    National  Sorrows  and  National  Lessons, 

simple  Loyalty — the  attachment  to  some  royal  race, 
wliom  they  conceived  to  be  set  over  them  by  God.  An 
attachment,  mark  it  well,  foimded  not  on  their  own  will, 
but  on  grounds  very  complex,  and  quite  independent  of 
them;  an  attachment  which  they  did  not  make,  but 
found  ;  an  attachment  which  their  forefathers  had  trans- 
mitted to  them,  and  which  they  must  transmit  to  their 
children  as  a  national  inheritance, — at  once  a  symbol  of 
and  a  support  to  the  national  unity  of  the  whole  people, 
running  back  to  the  time  when,  in  dim  and  mythic  ages, 
it  emerged  into  the  light  of  history  as  a  wandering  tribe. 
This  instinct,  as  a  historic  fact,  has  been  strong  in  all 
the  progressive  European  nations;  especially  strong  in 
the  Teutonic  ;  in  none  more  than  in  the  English  and 
the  Scotch.  It  has  helped  to  put  them  in  the  forefront 
of  the  nations.  It  has  been  a  rallying  point  for  all 
their  highest  national  instincts.  Their  Sovereign  was  to 
them  the  divinely  appointed  symbol  of  the  unity  of  their 
country.  In  defending  him,  they  defended  it.  It  did 
not  interfere,  that  instinct  of  loyalty,  with  their  mature 
manhood,  freedom,  independence.  They  knew  that  if 
royalty  were  indeed  God's  ordinance,  it  had  its  duties  as 
well  as  its  rights.  And  when  their  kings  broke  the  law, 
they  changed  their  kings.  But  a  king  they  must  have, 
for  their  own  sakes  ;  not  merely  for  the  sake  of  the 
nation's  security  and  peace,  but  for  the  sake  of  their 
own  self-respect.  They  felt,  those  old  forefathers  of  ours, 
that  loyalty  was  not  a  degrading,  but  an  ennobling  in- 
fluence ;  that  a  free  man  can  give  up  his  independence 
without  losing  it ;  that — as  the  example  of  that  mighty 
German  army  has  just  shown  an  astounded  world — in 


National  Sorrozvs  and  National  Lessons.    3 1 5 

dependence  is  never  more  called  out  than  by  subordina- 
tion; and  that  a  free  man  never  feels  himself  so  free  as 
when  obeying  those  whom  the  laws  of  his  country  have 
set  over  him ;  an  able  man  never  feels  himself  so  able  as 
when  he  is  following  the  lead  of  an  abler  man  than 
himself.  And  what  if,  as  needs  must  happen  at  whiles, 
the  sovereign  were  not  a  man,  but  a  woman  or  a  child  ? 
Then  was  added  to  loyalty  in  the  hearts  of  our  forefathers, 
and  of  many  another  nation  in  Europe,  an  instinct  even 
deeper,  and  tenderer,  and  more  unselfish — the  instinct 
of  chivalry ;  and  the  widowed  queen,  or  the  prince, 
became  to  them  a  precious  jewel  committed  to  their 
charge  by  the  will  of  their  forefatliers  and  the  provi- 
dence of  God ;  an  heirloom  for  which  they  were  respon- 
sible to  God,  and  to  their  forefathers,  and  to  their  chil- 
dren after  them,  lest  their  names  should  be  stained  to 
all  future  generations  by  the  crime  of  baseness  toward 
the  weak. 

This  was  the  instinct  of  the  old  Teutonic  races. 
They  were  often  unfaithful  to  it — as  all  men  are  to 
their  higher  instincts  ;  and  fulfilled  it  very  imperfectly 
— as  all  men  fulfil  their  duties.  But  it  was  there — in 
their  heart  of  hearts.  It  helped  to  make  them  ;  and, 
therefore,  it  helped  to  make  us.  It  ennobled  them  ;  it 
called  out  in  them  the  sense  of  unity,  order,  discipline, 
and  a  lofty  and  unselfish  affection.  And  I  thank  God, 
as  an  Englishman,  for  any  event,  however  exquisitely 
painful,  which  may  call  out  those  true  graces  in  us,  their 
descendants.  And,  therefore,  my  good  friends,  if  any 
cynic  shall  sneer,  as  he  may,  after  the  present  danger  is 
past,  at  this  sudden  outburst  of  loyalty,  and  speak  of  it 


3 1 6    National  Sojn^ows  and  National  Lessons, 

as  unreasoning  and  childish,  answer  not  him.  "  Give 
not  that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  neither  cast  ye  your 
pearls  before  swine,  lest  they  trample  them  under  their 
feet,  and  turn  again  and  rend  you."  But  answer  your- 
selves, and  answer  too  your  children,  when  they  ask  you 
what  has  moved  you  thus — answer,  I  say,  not  childishly, 
but  childlike  :  *'  We  have  gone  back,  for  a  moment  at 
least,  to  England's  childhood — to  the  mood  of  England 
when  she  was  still  young.  And  we  are  showing  thereby 
that  we  are  not  yet  decayed  into  old  age.  That  if  we 
be  men,  and  not  still  children,  yet  the  child  is  father  to 
the  man  ;  and  the  child's  heart  still  beats  underneath 
all  the  sins  and  all  the  cares  and  all  the  greeds  of  our 
manhood." 

More  than  one  foreign  nation  is  looking  on  in  wonder 
and  in  envy  at  that  sight.  God  grant  that  they  may 
understand  all  that  it  means.  God  grant  that  they  may 
understand  of  how  wide  and  deep  an  application  is  the 
great  law,  *'  Except  ye  be  converted,"  changed,  and 
turned  round  utterly,  "  and  become  as  little  children,  ye 
shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  God  grant 
that  they  may  recover  the  childlike  heart,  and  replace 
with  it  that  childish  heart  which  pulls  to  pieces  at  its 
own  irreverent  fancy  the  most  ancient  and  sacred  institu- 
tions, to  build  up  ever  fresh  baby-houses  out  of  the  frag- 
ments, as  a  child  does  with  its  broken  toys. 

Therefore,  my  friends,  be  not  ashamed  to  have  felt 
acutely.  Be  not  ashamed  to  feel  acutely  still,  till  all 
danger  is  past,  or  even  long  after  all  danger  is  past ; 
when  you  look  back  on  what  might  have  been,  and  what 
it  might  have  brought,  ay,  must  have  brought,  if  not  to 


National  Sorrows  and  National  Lessons.    3 1 7 

you,  still  to  your  children  after  you.  For  so  you  will 
show  yourselves  worthy  descendants  of  your  forefathers  : 
so  you  will  shoAV  yourselves  worthy  citizens  of  this 
British  empire.  So  you  will  show  yourselves,  as  I 
believe,  worthy  Christian  men  and  women.  For  Christ, 
the  King  of  kings  and  subjects,  sends  all  sorrow,  to 
make  us  feel  acutely.  We  do  not,  the  great  majority  of 
us,  feel  enough.  Our  hearts  are  dull  and  hard  and 
light,  God  forgive  us  ;  and  we  forget  continually  what 
an  earnest,  awful  world  we  live  in — a  whole  eternity 
waiting  for  us  to  be  born,  and  a  whole  eternity  waiting 
to  see  what  we  shall  do  now  we  are  born.  Yes ;  our 
hearts  are  dull  and  hard  and  light  ;  and,  therefore, 
Christ  sends  suffering  on  us  to  teach  us  what  we  always 
gladly  forget  in  comfort  and  prosperity — what  an  awful 
capacity  of  suffering  we  have  ;  and  more,  what  an  awful 
capacity  of  suffering  our  fellow-creatures  have  likewise. 
We  sit  at  ease  too  often  in  a  fool's  paradise,  till  God 
awakens  us  and  tortures  us  into  pity  for  the  torture  of 
others.  And  so,  if  we  will  not  acknowledge  our  brother- 
hood by  any  other  teaching.  He  knits  us  together  by  the 
brotherhood  of  common  suffering. 

But  if  God  thus  sends  sorrow  to  ennoble  us,  to  call 
out  in  us  pity,  sympathy,  unselfishness,  most  surely  does 
He  send  for  that  end  such  a  sorrow  as  this,  which 
touches  in  all  alike  every  source  of  pity,  of  sympathy, 
of  unselfishness  at  once.  Surely  He  meant  to  bow  our 
hearts  as  the  heart  of  one  man  ;  and  He  has,  I  trust 
and  hope,  done  that  which  He  meant  to  do.  God  grant 
that  the  effect  may  be  permanent.  God  grant  that  it 
may  call  out  in  us  all  an  abiding  loyalty.      God  grant 


o 


1 8    National  Sorrows  and  National  Lessons. 


that  it  may  fill  us  with  some  of  that  charity  which  bears 
all  things,  hopes  all  things,  believes  all  things,  which 
rejoices  not  in  iniqiiit}^  but  rejoices  in  the  truth  ;  and 
make  us  thrust  aside  henceforth,  in  dignified  disgust, 
the  cynic  and  the  slanderer,  the  ribald  and  the  rebel. 

But  more.  God  grant  that  the  very  sight  of  the 
calamity  with  which  we  have  stood  face  to  face,  may  call 
out  in  us  some  valiant  practical  resolve,  which  may 
benefit  this  whole  nation,  and  bow  all  hearts  as  the 
heart  of  one  man,  to  do  some  one  right  thing.  And 
what  right  thing  ?  What  but  the  thing  which  is 
pointed  to  by  plain  and  terrible  fact,  as  the  lesson 
which  God  must  mean  us  to  learn,  if  He  means  us  to 
learn  any,  from  what  has  so  nearly  befallen  ?  Let  our 
hearts  be  bowed  as  the  heart  of  one  man,  to  say  —  that  so 
far  as  we  have  power,  so  help  us  God,  no  man,  woman, 
or  child  in  Britain,  be  he  prince  or  be  he  beggar,  shall 
die  henceforth  of  preventible  disease.  Let  us  repent  of 
and  amend  that  scandalous  neglect  of  the  now  well- 
known  laws  of  health  and  cleanliness  which  destroys 
thousands  of  lives  yearly  in  this  kingdom,  without  need 
and  reason;  in  defiance  alike  of  science,  of  humanity,  and 
of  our  Christian  profession.  Two  hundred  thousand  per- 
sons, I  am  told,  have  died  of  preventible  fever  since  the 
Prince  Consort's  death  ten  years  ago.  Is  that  not  a  sin 
to  bow  our  hearts  as  the  heart  of  one  man  ?  Ah,  if  this 
foul  and  needless  disease,  by  striking  once  at  the  ^qy^ 
highest,  shall  bring  home  to  us  the  often  told,  seldom 
heeded  fact  that  it  is  striking  perpetually  at  hundreds 
among  the  very  lowest,  whom  we  leave  to  sicken  and  die 
in  dens  unfit  for  men — unfit  for  dogs ;  if  this  tragedy 


National  Sorroivs  and  National  Lessons.    3 1 9 

shall  awaken  all  loyal  citizens  to  demand  and  to  enforce, 
as  a  duty  to  their  sovereign,  their  country,  and  their 
God,  a  sanatory  reform  in  town  and  country,  immediate, 
wholesale,  imperative  ;  if  it  shall  awaken  the  ministers 
of  religion  to  preacn  about  that,  and  hardly  aught  but 
that — till  there  is  not  a  fever  ally  or  a  malarious  ditch 
left  in  any  British  city  ; — then  indeed  this  fair  and  pre- 
cious life  will  not  have  been  imperilled  in  vain,  and 
generations  yet  uuborn  will  bless  the  memory  of  a 
prince  who  sickened  as  poor  men  sicken,  and  all  but 
died,  as  poor  men  die,  that  his  example — and,  it  may 
be  hereafter,  his  exertions — ^might  deliver  the  poor  from 
dirt,  disease,  and  death. 

For  him  himself  I  have  no  fear.  We  have  committed 
him  to  God.  It  may  be  that  he  has  committed  himself 
to  God.  It  may  be  that  he  has  already  learned  lessons 
which  God  alone  can  teach.  It  may  be  that  those  les- 
sons will  bring  forth  hereafter  royal  fruit  right  worthy  of 
a  royal  root.  At  least  we  can  trust  him  in  God's  hands, 
and  believe  that  if  this  great  woe  was  meant  to  ennoble 
us  it  was  meant  to  ennoble  him  ;  that  if  it  was  meant 
to  educate  us  it  was  meant  to  educate  him  ;  that  God  is 
teaching  him  ;  and  that  in  God's  school-house  he  is  safe. 
For  think,  my  friends,  if  we,  who  know  him  partly,  love 
him  much  ;  then  God,  who  knows  him  wholly,  loves  him 
more.  And  so  God  be  with  him,  and  with  you,  and 
with  your  prayers  for  hiro.      Amen. 


SERMON    XXXV, 

GRACE    AND    GLORY. 

Chapel  Royal,  Whitehall.     18G5. 
For  the  Consumptive  Hospital. 

St  John  ii.  11. 

**  This  beginning  of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  mani- 
fested forth  his  glory." 

This  word  glory,  whether  in  its  Greek  or  its  Roman 
shape,  had  a  very  definite  meaning  in  the  days  of  the 
Apostles.  It  meant  the  admiration  of  men.  The 
Greek  word,  as  every  scholar  knows,  is  derived  from  a 
root  signifying  to  seem,  and  expresses  that  which  a  man 
seems,  and  appears  to  his  fellow  men.  The  Latin  word 
glory  is  expressly  defined  by  Cicero  to  mean  the  love, 
trust,  and  admiration  of  the  multitude  ;  and  a  conse- 
quent opinion  that  the  man  is  worthy  of  honour.  Glory, 
in  fact,  is  a  relative  word,  and  can  be  only  used  of  any 
being  in  relation  to  other  rational  beings,  and  their 
opinion  of  him. 

The  glory  of  God,  therefore,  in  Scripture,  must  needs 
mean  that  admiration  which  men  feel,  or  ought  to  feel 
for  God.  There  is  a  deeper,  an  altogether  abysmal 
meaning  for  that  word  :  "  And  now,  O  Father,  glorify 
thou  me  with  thy  own  self,  with  the  glory  which  I  had 
with  thee  before  the  world  was."    But  on  that  text,  speak- 


Grace  and  Glory,  3  2 1 

iiig  of  the  majesty  of  the  ever-blessed  Trinity,  I  dare 
not  attempt  to  comment  ;  though,  could  I  explain  it,  I 
should.  When  St.  John  says  that  Christ  manifested 
forth  His  glory,  and  His  disciples  believed  on  Him,  it  is 
plain  that  He  means  by  His  glory  that  which  produced 
admiration  and  satisfaction,  not  alone  in  the  mind  of 
God  the  Father,  but  in  the  minds  of  men. 

Now,  what  the  Romans  thought  glorious  in  their  days 
is  notorious  enough.  No  one  can  look  upon  the  picture 
of  a  Roman  triumph  without  seeing  that  their  idea  of 
glory  was  force,  power,  brute  force,  self-willed  dominion, 
selfish  aggrandizement.  But  this  was  not  the  glory 
which  St.  John  saw  in  Christ,  for  His  glory  was  full  of 
grace,  which  is  incompatible  with  self-will  and  selfishness. 
The  Greek's  meaning  of  glory  is  equally  notorious. 
He  called  it  wisdom.  We  call  it  craft — the  glory  of  the 
sophist,  who  could  prove  or  disprove  anything  for  gain  or 
display  ;  the  glory  of  the  successful  adventurer,  whose 
shrewdness  made  its  market  out  of  the  stupidity  and 
vice  of  the  barbarian.  But  this  is  not  the  glory  of 
Christ,  for  St.  John  saw  that  it  was  full  of  truth. 

Therefore,  neither  strength  noi*  craft  are  the  glory  of 
Christ ;  and,  therefore,  they  are  not  the  glory  of  God. 
For  the  glory  of  Christ  is  the  glory  of  God,  and  none 
other,  because  He  is  very  God,  of  very  God  begotten.  Tn 
Christ,  man  sees  the  unseen,  and  absolute,  and  eternal 
God  as  He  is,  was,  and  ever  will  be.  "  No  man  hath 
seen  God  at  any  time ;  the  only  begotten  Son,  which  is 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath  declared  Him  : " — 
and  that  perfectly  and  utterly  ;  for  in  Him  dwells  all 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  so  that   He  Himself 

X 


32  2  Grace  and  Glory. 

could  say,  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father." 
This  is  the  Catholic  Faith.  God  grant  that  I  may  believe 
it  with  my  whole  heart.  God  grant  that  you  may  believe 
it  with  your  whole  hearts  likewise,  and  not  merely  with 
your  intellects  and  brains. 

But,  it  may  be  said,  though  God  be  not  glorious  and 
admirable  for  selfish  force,  which  it  were  blasphemous  to 
attribute  to  Him,  He  is  still  admirable  for  His  power. 
Though  He  be  not  glorious  for  craft,  He  is  still  glorious 
for  His  wisdom.  I  deny  both.  I  deny  that  power  is  .any 
object  of  admiration,  unless  it  be  used  well  for  good  ends. 
To  admire  power  for  its  own  sake  is  one  of  those  errors, 
which  has  been  well  called  Titan olatry,  the  worship  of 
giants.  Neither  is  wisdom  an  object  of  admiration, 
unless  it  be  used  for  good  ends.  To  worship  it  for  its 
own  sake  is  a  common  error  enough — the  idolatry  of 
Intellect.  But  it  is  none  the  less  an  error,  and  a 
grievous  one.  God's  power  and  wisdom  are  glorious 
only  in  as  far  as  they  are  used  (as  they  are  utterly)  for 
good  ends  ;  only,  in  plain  words,  as  far  as  God  is  (as  He 
is  perfectly)  good.  And  the  true  glory  of  God  is  that 
God  is  good.  So  says  the  Scripture  ;  and  so  I  bid  you 
all  remember,  for  it  is  a  truth  which  you  and  I  and  all 
mankind  are  perpetually  ready  to  forget. 

Let  me  but  ask  you  one  question  as  a  test  whether  or 
not  I  am  right.  If  the  Supreme  Being  used  His  power,  as 
the  Roman  Caesar  used  his  ;  if  Jle  used  His  wisdom  as 
the  Greek  s(^phist  used  his,  would  He  be  glorious  then 
and  worthy  of  admijation  V  'J'lio  old  heathen  ^schylus 
answered  that  ({uestion  for  niaukind  long  ago  on  the 
Athenian    stage.      I    should     be    ashamed    to  answer  it 


Grace  and  Glory.  323 

agaiij  in  a  Cliristian  pulpit.  And  when  I  say  good,  I 
mean  good,  even  as  man  can  be,  and  ought  to  be,  and  is, 
more  or  less,  good.  The  theory  that  because  God's  morality 
is  absolute,  it  may,  therefore,  be  different  from  man's 
morality,  in  Idnd  as  well  as  in  degree,  is  equally  contrary 
to  the  letter  and  to  the  spirit  of  Scripture.  Man, 
according  to  Scripture,  is  made  in  God's  moral  image  and 
likeness,  and  however  fallen  and  deoraded  that  imasre 
may  be,  still  the  ultimate  standard  of  right  and  wrong 
is  the  same  in  God  and  in  man.  How  else  dare  Abra- 
ham ask  of  God,  ''  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth 
do  right  ? "  How  else  has  God's  command  to  the  old 
Jews  any  meaning,  "  Be  ye  holy,  for  I  am  holy  ? " 
How  else  have  all  the  passages  in  the  Psalms,  Prophets, 
Evangelists,  Apostles,  which  speak  of  God's  justice, 
mercy,  faithfulness,  any  honest  or  practical  meaning  to 
human  beings  ?  How  else  can  they  be  aught  but  a 
mockery,  a  delusion,  and  a  snare  to  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands wlio  have  found  in  them  hope  and  trust,  that  God 
would  deliver  them  and  the  world  from  evil  ?  What 
means  the  command  to  be  perfect  as  our  Father  in 
heaven  is  perfect  ?  What  mean  the  words  that  we 
partake  of  a  divine  nature  ?  How  else  is  the  command 
to  love  God  anything  but  an  arbitrary  and  impossible 
demand, — demanding  love,  which  every  writer  of  fiction 
tells  you,  and  tells  you  truly,  cannot  be  compelled — can 
only  go  forth  toward  a  being  who  shows  himself  worthy 
of  our  love,  by  possessing  those  qualities  which  we 
admire  in  our  fellow  men  ?  No.  Against  such  a  theory 
I  must  quote,  as  embodying  all  that  I  would  say,  and 
corroborating,  on  entirely  independent  ground,  the  Scrip- 


324  Grace  and  Glory, 

tural  account  of  human  morality — against  such  a  theory, 
I  say  I  must  quote  the  words  of  our  greatest  living 
logician.  "Language  has  no  meaning  for  the  words 
Just,  Merciful,  Benevolent"  (he  might  have  added  truth- 
ful likewise)  '*  save  that  in  which  we  predicate  them  of 
our  fellow  creatures ;  and  unless  that  is  what  we  in- 
tend to  express  by  them,  we  have  no  business  to  employ 
the  words.  If  in  affirming  them  of  God  we  do  not 
mean  to  affirm  these  very  qualities,  differing  only  as 
greater  in  degree,  we  are  neither  philosophically  nor 
morally  entitled  to  affirm  them  at  all.  .  .  .  What  be- 
longs to"  God's  goodness  ''as  Infinite  (or  more  properly 
Absolute)  I  do  not  pretend  to  know ;  but  I  know  that 
infinite  goodness  must  be  goodness,  and  that  what  is  not 
consistent  with  goodness  is  not  consistent  with  infinite 
goodness.  .  .  .  Besides,"  he  says — and  to  this  sound 
reductio  ad  ahsurdum  I  call  the  attention  of  all  who 
believe  their  Bibles — "  unless  I  believe  God  to  possess 
the  same  moral  attributes  which  I  find,  in  however  in- 
ferior a  degree,  in  a  good  man,  what  ground  of  assurance 
have  I  of  God's  veracity  ?  All  trust  in  a  Revelation  pre- 
supposes a  conviction  that  God's  attributes  are  the  same, 
in  all  but  degree,  with  the  best  human  attributes.  J.f, 
instead  of  the  '  glad  tidings '  that  there  exists  a  Being 
in  whom  all  the  excellences  which  the  highest  human 
mind  can  conceive,  exist  in  a  degree  inconceivable  to 
us,  I  am  informed  that  the  world  is  ruled  by  a  being 
whose  attributes  are  infinite,  but  what  they  are  we  can- 
not learn,  nor  what  are  the  principles  of  his  govem- 
m-^nt,  except  that  '  the  highest  human  morality  which 
we     are     capable     of    conceiving '     does    not     sanction 


Grace  and  Glory,  325 

them  ;  convince  me  of  it  and  I  will  bear  my  fate  as  I 
may.  But  when  I  am  told  that  I  must  believe  this,  and 
at  the  same  time  call  this  being  by  the  names  which 
express  and  affirm  the  highest  human  morality,  I  say 
in  plain  terms  that  I  will  not.  Whatever  power  such 
a  being  may  have  over  me,  there  is  one  thing  which 
he  shall  not  do :  he  shall  not  compel  me  to  worship 
him.  I  will  call  no  being  good,  who  is  not  what  I 
mean  when  I  apply  that  epithet  to  my  fellow  creatures." 
That  St.  John  would  have  assented  to  these  bold  and 
honest  words,  that  such  is  St.  John's  conception  of 
human  and  divine  morality,  the  story  in  the  text  shows, 
to  my  mind,  especially.  It  is,  so  to  speak,  a  crucial 
experiment,  by  which  the  truth  of  the  Scripture  theory 
is  verified.  The  difficulty  in  all  ages  about  a  standard 
of  morality  has  been — How  can  we  fix  it  ?  Even  if  we 
agree  that  man's  goodness  ought  to  be  the  counterpart  of 
God's  goodness,  we  know  that  in  practice  it  is  not,  as 
mankind  has  differed  in  all  ages  and  countries  about 
what  is  right  and  wrong.  The  Hindoo  thinks  it  right  to 
burn  widows,  wrong  to  eat  animal  food  ;  and  between 
such  extremes  there  are  numberless  minor  differences. 
Hardly  any  act  is  conceivable  which  has  not  been  thought 
by  some  man,  somewhere,  somehow,  moraMy  right  or 
morally  wrong.  If  all  that  we  can  do  is,  to  choose  out  those 
instances  of  morality  which  seem  to  us  most  right,  and 
impute  them  to  God,  shall  we  not  have  an  ever-shifting, 
probably  a  merely  conventional  standard  of  right  and 
wrong  ?  And  worse — shall  we  not  be  always  in  danger 
of  deifying  oar  own  superstitions — perhaps  our  own  vices; 
of  making  a  God  in  our  own  image,  because  we  cannot 


326  Grace  and  Glory. 

know  that  God  in  whose  image  we  are  made  ?  Most 
true,  unless  ''we  believe  rightly  the  incarnation  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ/'  ''perfect  God  and  perfect  man."  In 
Him,  says  the  Bible,  the  perfect  human  morality  is 
manifested,  and  shown  by  His  life  and  conduct  to  be 
identical  with  the  divine.  He  bids  us  be  perfect  even 
as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect;  and  He  only  has  a  right 
— in  the  sense  of  a  sound  and  fair  reason — for  so  doing ; 
because  He  can  say,  and  has  said,  "  He  that  hath  seen 
me  hath  seen  the  Father." 

At  least,  such  is  the  doctrine  of  St.  John.  He  tells 
us  that  the  Word,  who  was  God,  was  made  flesh,  and 
dwelt  in  his  land  and  neighbourhood  ;  and  that  he  and 
his  fellows  beheld  His  glory  ;  and  saw  that  it  was  the 
glory  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace 
and  truth.  And  then,  in  the  next  chapter,  he  goes  on 
to  tell  us  how  that  glory  was  first  manifested  forth — by 
turning  water  into  wine  at  a  marriage  feast.  On  the 
truth  of  the  story,  I  say  simply,  in  passing,  that  I 
believe  it  fully  and  literally;  as  I  do  also  St.  John's 
assertions  about  our  Lord's  Divinity.  But  I  only  wish 
to  point  out  to  you  why  I  called  this  miracle  the  crucial 
experiment,  which  proved  God's  goodness  to  be  identical 
with  that  which  we  call  (and  rightly)  goodness  in  man. 
It  is  by  the  seeming  insignificance  thereof,  by  the  seem- 
ing non-necessity,  by  the  seeming  humbleness  of  its 
circumstances,  by  the  seeming  smallness  of  its  results, 
issuing  merely  (as  far  as  Scripture  tells  us,  and  therefore 
as  far  as  we  need  know,  or  have  a  right  to  imagine)  in  the 
giving  of  a  transitory  and  unnecessary  ph^^sical  pleasure. 
In  short,  by  the  ver}^  absence  of  that  Dignus  cleo  vindice 


Grace  and  Glory,  327 

nodus,  that  knot  which  only  a  God  could  untie,  which 
heathens  demanded  ere  a  god  was  allowed  to  interfere 
in  the  plot  of  a  tragedy ;  which  too  many  who  call 
themselves  Christians  demand  before  the  living  God  is 
allowed  to  interfere  in  that  world  in  w^hich  without 
Him  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground.  In  a  moral 
case  of  this  kind,  if  you  will  consider,  that  which  seems 
least  is  often  the  greatest.  That  which  seems  the 
lowest,  because  the  simplest  and  meanest  manifestation 
of  a  moral  law,  may  be — probably  is — the  deepest,  the 
highest,  the  most  universal. 

Life  is  made  up  of  little  things,  say  the  practically 
wise,  and  they  say  true,  for  our  Lord  says  so  likewise. 
''He  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also 
in  much."  If  you  look  on  morality,  virtue,  goodness, 
holiness,  sanctification — call  it  what  you  will — as  merely 
the  obligation  of  an  external  law,  you  will  be  tempted 
to  say,  "  Let  me  be  faithful  to  it  in  its  greater  and  more 
important  cases,  and  that  is  enough.  The  pettier  ones  must 
take  care  of  themselves,  I  have  not  time  enough  to  attend 
to  them,  and  God  will  not,  it  may  be,  require  them  of 
me."  But  if  the  morality,  goodness,  holiness  be  in  you 
what  it  was  in  Christ,  without  measure — a  spirit,  even 
the  spirit  of  God — a  ^spirit  within  you,  possessing  you, 
and  working  on  you,  and  in  you — then  that  which  seems 
most  peti^y  and  unimportant  will  often  be  most  impor- 
tant, the  test  of  the  soundness  of  your  heart,  of  the 
reality  of  your  feelings. 

We  all  know — every  writer  of  fiction,  at  least,  should 
know — how  true  this  is  in  the  case  of  love  between  man 
and  woman,    between  parent  and  child  :  how  the  little 


328  Grace  and  Glory. 

kindnesses,  the  half-unconscious  gestures,  tlic  pctt}^ 
labours  of  love,  of  which  their  object  will  never  bo 
aware,  the  scrupulousness  which  is  able  "  to  greatly  find 
quarrel  in  a  straw,  when  honour  is  at  stake," — how 
these  are  the  very  things  which  show  that  the  affection 
is  neither  the  offspring  of  dry  and  legal  duty,  nor  of 
selfish  enjoyment,  but  lies  far  down  in  the  unconscious 
abysses  of  the  heart  and  being  itself: — as  Christ — to 
compare  (for  He  Himself  permits,  nay  commands,  us  to 
do  so  in  His  parables)  our  littleness  with  His  immensity 
— as  Christ,  I  say,  showed,  when  He  chose  first  to 
manifest  His  glory — the  glory  of  His  grace  and  truth — 
bv  increasing  for  a  short  hour  the  pleasures  of  a  village 
feast. 

I  might  say  much  more  on  the  point;  how  He  showed 
these  by  His  truth ;  how  He  proved  that  He,  and 
therefore  His  Father  and  your  Father,  was  not  thati)ei^s 
quidam  deceptor,  whom  some  suppose  Him,  mocking 
the  intellect  of  His  creatures  by  the  facts  of  nature 
which  He  has  created,  tempting  the  souls  of  His 
creatures  by  the  very  faculties  and  desires  which  He 
Himself  has  given  them. 

But  I  wish  now  to  draw  your  minds  rather  to  that 
one  word  Grace — Grace,  what  it  means,  and  how  it  is  a 
manifestation  of  glory.  Few  Scriptural  expressions 
have  suffered  more  that  this  word  Grace  from  the  storms 
of  theological  controversy.  Springing  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  Apostles,  as  did  many  other  noble  words  in  that 
heaven-enriched  soil,  the  only  adequate  expressions  of 
an  idea  which  till  then  had  never  fully  possessed  the 
mind  of  man,  it  meant  more  than  we  can  now  imagine; 


Grace  and  Glory,  329 

pcrli.'ips  rnoro   that  wo  shall  ever  imagine  again.      We, 
alas  !  only  know   the  word  with   its  fragrance  battered 
out,  its  huos  rubbed  off,  its  very  life  anatomized  out  of 
it  by  the  battles  of  rival  divines,  till  its  mere  skeleton  is 
left,  and  all  that  grace  means  to  most  of  us  is  simply  and 
dryly   a    certain   spiritual   gift   of   God.       Doubtless   it 
means  that;  but  if  it  meant  nothing  more  at  first,  why 
was  not  the  plain  word  Gift  enough  for  the  Apostles  ? 
Why  did  they  use  Grace  ?      Why  did  they  use,  too,  in 
the  sense  of  giving  and  gifts,  nouns  and  verbs  derived 
from  that  root-word,  diaris,   grace,   which    plainly  sig- 
nified so  much  to  them  ?     A  word,  the  root-meaning  of 
which  was  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  certain  heathen 
goddess,  or  goddesses — the  inspirer  of  beauty  in  art,  the 
impersonation    of  all  that  is    pure,   charming,   winning, 
bountiful — in  one  word,  of  all  that  is  graceful  and  gracious 
in  the  human  character.      The  fact  is  strange,   but  the 
fact  is  there ;    and    being   there,   we  must   face   it  and 
explain  it.      Of  course,  the  Apostles  use  the  word  grace 
in  a   far  deeper  and  loftier  meaning  ;  raise  it,  mathe- 
matically speaking,  to  a  far  higher  power.      There  is  no 
need  to  remind  you  of  that.      But  why  did  they  choose 
and   use   the   word  at  all — a  word  whose  old  meaning 
every  heathen  knew — unless  for  some  innate  fitness  in 
it  to  express  something  in  the  character  of  God  ?     To 
tell  men  that  there  was  in  God  a  graciousness,  as  of  the 
most  gracious  of  all  himian  beings,  which  gave  to  His 
character  a  moral  beauty,  a  charm,  a  winningness,  which, 
as  even  the  old  Jewish  prophet,  before  the  Incarnation, 
could    perceive    and    boldly    declare,    drew    them    Avith 
the    cords    of   a    man    and    with    the   bands    of    love. 


330  Grace  and  Glory. 

attracting  them  by  the  very  human  character  of  its 
graciousness. 

''  The  glory  as  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  full 
of  grace."  Meditate  on  those  words.  ''Full  of  grace," — 
of  that  spirit  which  we,  like  the  old  heathens,  consider 
rather  a  feminine  than  a  masculine  excellence ;  the 
spirit,  which,  as  St.  James  saj^s  of  God  the  Father, 
gives  simply  and  upbraidetb  not ;  gives  gracefully,  as 
we  ourselves  say — in  the  right  and  happy  use  of  the 
adverb  ;  does  not  spoil  its  gifts  by  throwing  them  in  the 
teeth  of  the  giver,  but  gives  for  mere  giving's  sake  ; 
pleases  where  it  can  be  done,  without  sin  or  harm,  for 
mere  pleasing's  sake  ;  most  human  and  humane  when  it 
is  most  divine  ;  the  spirit  by  which  Christ  turned  the 
water  into  wine  at  the  marriage  feast,  and  so  manifested 
forth  His  absolute  and  eterual  glory.      And  how  ?  How  ? 

Thus,  if  you  will  receive  it ;  if  you  will  believe  a 
truth  which  is  too  often  hidden  from  the  wise  and 
prudent,  and  yet  revealed  unto  babes  ;  which  will  never 
be  understood  by  the  proud  Pharisee,  the  sour  fanatic, 
the  ascetic  who  dreads  and  distrusts  his  Father  in 
heaven  ;  but  which  is  clear  and  simple  enough  to  many 
a  clear  and  simple  heart,  honest  and  single-eyed,  sunny 
itself,  and  bringing  sunshine  wherever  it  comes,  because 
it  is  inspired  by  the  gracious  spirit  of  God,  and  delights 
to  show  kindness  for  kindness'  sake,  and  to  make  happy 
for  happiness'  sake,  taking  no  merit  to  itself  for  doing 
that,  which  is  as  instinctive  as  its  very  breath. 

This, — that  the  graciousness  which  Cbrist  showed  at 
that  marriage  feast  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  the 
boundless  love  of  God,  who  could  not  live  alone  in  the 


Grace  and  Glory,  331 

abyss,  but  must  needs,  out  of  His  own  Divine  Charity, 
create  the  universe,  that  He  might  have  somewhat  beside 
Himself  whereon  to  pour  out  the  ocean  of  His  love, 
which  finds  its  own  happiness  in  giving  happiness  to  all 
created  things,  from  the  loftiest  of  rational  beings  down 
to  the  gnat  which  dances  in  the  sun,  and  for  aught  we 
know,  to  the  very  lichen  which  nestles  in  the  Alpine 
rock. 

This  is  the  character  of  God,  unless  Scripture  be  a 
dream  of  man's  imagination.  Thus  far  you  may  know 
God ;  thus  far  you  may  see  God  as  He  is  ;  and  know  and 
see  that  He  is  just  with  the  justice  of  a  man,  only  more 
just  ;  merciful  with  the  mercy  of  a  man,  only  more 
merciful ;  truthful  with  the  truthfulness  of  a  man,  only 
more  truthful ;  gracious  with  the  graciousness  of  a  man, 
only  more  gracious  ;  and  loving  ?  That  we  dare  not  say: 
for  if  we  say  so  much,  the  Scripture  commands  us  to  say 
more.  The  Scripture  tells  us  that  the  whole  absolute 
morality  of  God  is  summed  up — as  our  own  human 
morality  ought  to  be — in  His  Love.  That  love  is  the 
fulfilment  of  the  Moral  Law  in  Him  as  in  us  ;  that  it  is 
the  root  and  cause  and  spirit  of  His  justice,  mercy, 
truth,  and  graciousness  ;  that  it  belongs  not  to  His 
attributes,  as  they  may  be  said  to  be,  but  to  His  essence 
and  His  spirit  ;  that  we  must  not,  if  we  be  careful  of 
our  words,  say,  God  is  loving,  because  we  are  bidden  to 
say,  ''  God  is  Love." 

Thus,  the  commands,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God — and  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,  are  shown  to  be 
not  arbitrary  and  impossible  demands,  miscalled  moral 
obligations,  while  they  are  merely  legal  and  external  ones ; 


332  Grace  and  Glory. 

but  true  moral  obligations,  in  the  moral  sense,  to  which 
heart  and  spirit  can  answer,  ''  I  rejoice  to  do  thy  will, 
O  God  ;  Thy  law  is  within  my  heart."  You  ought  to 
love  God,  because  He  is  supremely  loveable  and  worthy 
of  your  love.  You  can  love  God,  because  you  can 
appreciate  and  know  God  ;  for  you  are  His  child,  made 
in  His  moral  likeness,  and  capable  of  seeing  Him  as  He 
is  morally,  and  of  seeing  in  Him  the  full  perfection  of 
all  that  attracts  your  moral  sense,  when  it  is  manifested 
in  any  human  being.  And  you  can  love  your  neighbour 
as  yourselves,  because,  and  in  as  far  as  you  have  in  you 
the  Spirit  of  God,  the  spirit  of  universal  love,  which 
proceedeth  out  for  ever  both  from  the  Father  and  the 
Son  to  all  beings  and  things  which  They  have  made. 

And  of  one  thing  I  am  sure,  that  in  proportion  as 
you  are  led  and  inspired  by  that  Spirit  of  God  which 
showed  in  our  Lord,  in  the  very  deepest  and  truest 
sense,  as  the  spirit  of  humanity,  just  so  you  will  feel  a 
genial  and  hearty  pleasure  in  lessening  all  human 
suffering,  however  slight;  in  increasing  all  harmless 
human  pleasure,  however  transitory ;  and  in  copying 
Him  who,  at  the  marriage  feast,  gracefully  and  graciously 
turned  the  water  into  wine.  I  do  not,  of  course,  mean 
that  you  are  to  do  no  more  than  that ;  to  prefer  senti- 
ment to  duty,  to  amuse  and  glorify  yourselves  by  paying 
tithe  of  mint,  anise,  and  cummin,  and  neglect  the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment,  mercy,  and 
faith.  But  I  do  mean  that  you  are  not  to  distrust  your 
own  sentiments,  not  to  crush  your  own  instinctive 
sympathies.  The  very  lowest  of  them — that  which 
makes  you  shrink  at  the  sight  of  pain,  and  rejoice  in 


Grace  and  Glory.  333 

the  sight  of  pleasure,  is  not  natural,  and  common  to  you 
with  the  animals  ;  it  is  supernatural  and  divine.  It  is 
a  schoolmaster  to  bring  you  to  Christ,  to  that  higher 
insj^iration  of  His,  which  tells  your  heart  to  alleviate  the 
unseen  woes  which  will  never  come  into  painful  con- 
tact with  your  sensibilities,  to  bestow  pleasures  in  which 
you  yourself  have  no  immediate  share.  It  will  tell  your 
hearts  especially  in  the  case  of  this  very  Hospital  for  Con- 
sumption not  to  be  slack  in  giving,  because  so  much  of  what 
you  will  give — it  is  painful  to  recollect  how  much — will 
be  spent,  not  in  prevention,  not  even  in  cure,  but  in 
mere  alleviation,  mere  increased  bodily  ease,  mere  savoury 
food,  even  mere  passing  amusements  for  wearied  minds. 
Be  it  so.  If  (which  God  forbid)  we  could  do  nothing 
save  alleviate  ;  if  (which  God  forbid)  permanent  cure, 
even  lengthening  of  life,  were  impossible,  I  should  say 
just  as  much.  Give.  Give  money  to  alleviate  ;  give,  even 
though  what  you  give  were,  in  the  strictly  economic 
sense,  wasted.  We  are  ready  enough,  most  of  us,  to 
waste  upon  ourselves.  It  is  well  for  us  to  taste  once  in 
a  way  the  luxury  of  wasting  on  others  ;  though  I  have 
yet  to  learn  that  anything  can  be  called  wasted  which 
lessens,  even  for  a  moment,  the  amount  of  human  suffer- 
ing. A  plan,  for  instance,  is  on  foot  for  sending  twenty 
of  the  patients  to  Madeira  for  the  winter.  The  British 
Consul,  to  his  honour,  guarantees  their  maintenance,  if 
the  Hospital  will  pay  their  passage  out  and  home. 
Some  may  say — An  unnecessary  expense — a  problema- 
tical benefit.  Be  it  so.  I  believe  that  it  will  not  be 
such  ;  that  it  may  save  many  lives — they  may  revive  : 
but  were  it  not  so,  I  would   still  say  Give.      Let  them 


334  Grace  a7zd  Glory. 

go,  even  if  every  soul  in  that  ship  were  doomed.  Let 
them  go.  Let  them  drink  the  fresh  sea  breeze  before 
they  die  ;  let  them  see  the  green  tropic  world  ;  let  them 
forget  their  sorrow  for  a  while  ;  let  them  feel  springing 
up  afresh  in  them  the  celestial  fount  of  hope.  We  let 
the  guilty  criminal  eat  and  drink  well  the  morn  ere 
he  is  led  forth  to  die — shall  we  not  do  as  much  by  those 
who  are  innocent  ? 

But  especially  would  I  say,  try  to  lessen  such  suffering 
as  that  for  which  I  plead  to-day,  because  it  is  undeserved 
in  the  true  sense  of  that  word — not  earned  by  any  act  of 
their  own.  These  poor  souls  suffer  for  no  sins  of  their 
own  ;  they  have  done  nothing  to  bring  on  themselves  a 
disease  which  attacks  too  often  the  fairest,  the  seemingly 
strongest  and  healthiest,  the  most  temperate  and  most 
pure.  They  suffer,  some  it  may  be  for  the  sins  of  their 
forefathers,  some  from  causes  of  disease  which  science 
cannot  as  yet  control,  cannot  even  discover.  They  are 
objects  of  unmixed  pity  and  sympathy  :  they  should  be 
so  to  us  ;  for  they  are  so  to  Him  who  made  them.  On 
this  disease  God  does  bestow  a  special  alleviation — a 
special  mark  of  His  pity,  of  His  tenderness,  in  a  word  of 
His  grace.  That  unclouded  intellect,  that  unruffled 
temper,  that  cheerful  resignation,  that  brave  and  yet 
calm  facing  of  the  inevitable  future,  that  ever-fresh  hope, 
which  is  no  delusion  but  a  token  that  God  Himself  has 
taken  away  the  sting  of  death  and  the  victory  of  the 
grave,  till  the  very  thought  of  death  has  vanished,  or  is 
looked  on  merely  as  the  gate  to  a  life  of  health,  and 
strength,  and  peace,  and  joy  : — all  these  symptoms,  so 
common,  so  normal,  all  but  universal — this  Euthanasia 


Grace  and  Gloiy.  335 

whicli  God  has  provided  for  those  who,  humanly  speak- 
ing, are  innocent,  yet  must,  for  the  general  good  of 
humanity,  leave  this  world  for  another  ; — what  are  they 
but  the  voice  of  God  to  us,  telling  that  He  loves,  that 
He  pities,  that  He  alleviates  ;  and  bidding  us  go  and  do 
likewise  ?  God  has  alleviated  where  we  cannot.  He 
has  bidden  us  thereby,  if  His  likeness  and  spirit  be 
indeed  in  us,  to  alleviate  where  we  can  ;  and  believe 
that  by  every  additional  comfort,  however  petty,  which 
we  provide,  we  are  copying  the  Ideal  Man,  who,  because 
He  was  very  God  of  very  God,  could  condescend,  at  the 
marriage  feast,  to  turn  the  water  into  wine. 


SEEMON    XXXVL 

USELESS    SACRIFICE. 

?*SEACnED  AT  SOUTHSEA  FOR  THE  MiSSTOlS'  OF  THE  G001>  ShEPHERD. 

Octoher  1871. 

Isaiah  i.  11-17. 

**To  what  purpose  is  the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices  unto  me  V  saith 
the  Lord  :  .  .  .  When  ye  come  to  appear  before  me,  who  hath 
required  this  at  your  hand,  to  tread  my  covirts  ?  Bring  no  more 
vain  oblations  ;  incense  is  an  abomination  to  me  ;  the  new  moons 
and  sabbaths,  the  calling  of  assemblies,  I  cannot  away  with  ;  it  is 
iniquity,  even  the  solemn  meeting.  Your  new  moons  and  your 
appointed  feasts  my  soul  hateth  :  they  are  a  trouble  to  me  ;  I  am 
weary  to  bear  them.  And  when  ye  spread  forth  your  hands,  I 
will  hide  mine  eyes  from  you :  yea,  when  ye  make  many  prayers, 
1  will  not  hear  :  your  hands  are  full  of  blood.  Wash  you,  make 
you  clean  ;  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before  mine 
eyes  ;  cease  to  do  evil ;  learn  to  do  well  ;  seek  judgement,  relieve 
the  oppressed,  judge  the  fatherless,  plead  for  the  widow." 

I  HAVE  been  asked  to  plead  to-day  for  the  missiou  of 
the  Good  Shepherd  in  Portsea. 

I  am  informed  that  Portsea  contains  some  thirteen 
thousand  souls,  divided  between  two  parishes.  That 
they,  as  I  feared,  include  some  of  the  most  ignorant  and 
vicious  of  both  sexes  which  can  be  found  in  the  kingdom  ; 
that  there  are  few  or  no  rich  people  in  the  place  ;  that 
the  rich  who  have  an  interest  in  the  labour  of  these 
masses  live  away  from  the  place,  and  from  tlie  dwellings 


Useless  Sacrifice.  337 

of  those  whom  they  employ — a  social  evil  new  to 
England  ;  but  growing,  alas  !  fearfully  common  in  it ; 
and  that  vice,  and  unthrift,  uncertain  wages,  and 
unhealthy  dwellings  produce  there,  as  elsewhere,  misery 
and  savagery  most  deplorable.  I  am  told,  too,  that  this 
mission  has  been  working,  nobly  and  self- deny ingly, 
among  these  unhappy  people  for  some  years  past.  That 
it  can,  and  ought  to  largely  extend  its  operations ;  that 
it  is  in  want  of  fresh  funds ;  that  it  is  proposed  to  build 
a  new  church,  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  a  centre  of 
civilization  and  organization,  as  well  as  of  religion  and 
morality,  for  the  district ;  and  I  am  bidden  to  invite  you, 
as  close  neighbours  of  Portsea,  to  help  in  the  good  work. 
I,  of  course,  know  too  little  of  local  facts,  or  of  the 
temper  of  the  people  of  Southsea.  But  I  am  bound  to 
believe  it  to  be  the  same  as  I  have  found  it  elsewhere. 
And  I  therefore  shall  confine  myself  to  general  questions, 
and  shall  treat  this  case  of  Portsea,  as  what  it  is,  alas  ! 
one  among  a  hundred  similar  ones,  and  say  to  you 
simply  what  I  have  said  for  twenty-five  years,  wherever 
and  whenever  I  can  get  a  hearing.  And  therefore  if  I 
seem  here  and  there  to  speak  sharply  and  sternly,  re- 
collect that  I  pay  you  a  compliment  in  so  doing — first, 
that  I  speak  not  to  you,  but  to  all  English  men  and 
women  ;  and  next,  that  I  speak  as  to  those  who  have 
noble  instincts,  if  they  will  be  only  true  to  them  : — as 
to  English  people,  who  are  not  afraid  of  being  told  the 
truth ;  to  English  people  who  do  wrong  rather  from 
forgetfulness  and  luxury,  than  from  meanness  and 
cruelty  aforethought ;  who,  as  far  as  I  have  seen,  need, 
for  the  most  part,  only  to  be  reminded   that  they  are 

Y 


33^  Useless  Sacrifice, 

doing  wrong,  to  reawaken  them  to  their  better  selves, 
and  set  them  trying  honestly  and  bravely  to  do  right. 

Let  me  then  begin  this  sermon  with  a  parable. 
Alas  !  that  the  parable  should  represent  a  common  and 
notorious  fact.  Suppose  yourselves  in  some  stately 
palace,  amid  marbles  and  bronzes,  statues  and  pictures, 
and  all  that  cunning  brain  and  cunning  hand,  when 
wedded  to  the  high  instinct  of  beauty,  can  produce. 
The  furniture  is  of  the  very  richest,  and  kept  with  the 
most  fastidious  cleanliness.  The  floors  of  precious  wood 
are  polished  like  mirrors.  The  rooms  have  every  appli- 
ance for  the  ease  of  the  luxurious  inmates.  Everywhere 
you  see,  not  mere  brute  wealth,  but  taste,  purity,  and 
comfort.  There  is  no  lack  of  intellect  either: — wise  and 
learned  books  fill  the  library  shelves ;  maps  and  scientific 
instruments  crowd  the  tables.  Nor  of  religion  either ; — 
for  the  house  contains  a  private  chapel,  fitted  up  in  the 
richest  style  of  mediaeval  ecclesiastical  art.  And  as  you 
walk  along  from  polished  floor  to  polished  floor,  you 
seem  to  pass  in  review  every  object  which  the  body,  or 
the  mind,  or  the  spirit,  of  the  most  civilized  human 
being  can  need  for  its  satisfaction. 

But,  next  to  the  chapel  itself,  a  scent  of  carrion 
makes  you  start.  You  look,  against  the  will  of  your 
smart  and  ostentatious  guide,  through  a  half-open  door, 
and  see  another  sight — a  room,  dark  and  foul,  mil- 
dewed and  ruinous  ;  and,  swept  carelessly  into  a  corner, 
a  heap  of  dirt,  rags,  bones,  waifs  and  strays  of  every 
kind,  decaying  all  together. 

You  ask,  with  astonishment  and  disgust,  how  comes 
that  there  ?  and  are  told,  to  your  fresh   astonishment 


Useless  Sacrifice.  339 

and  disgust,  that  that  is  only  where  the  servants  sweep 
the  litter.  But  crouching  behind  the  litter,  in  the 
darkest  corner,  something  moves.  You  go  up  to  it,  in 
spite  of  the  entreaties  of  your  guide,  and  find  an  aged 
idiot  gibbering  in  her  rags. 

Who  is  she  ?  Oh,  an  old  servant — or  a  child,  or 
possibly  a  grand-child,  of  some  old  servant — your  guide 
does  not  remember  which.  She  is  better  out  of  the 
Avay  there  in  the  corner.  At  all  events  she  can  find 
plenty  to  eat  among  the  dirt-heap  ;  and  as  for  her  soul, 
if  she  has  one,  the  clergyman  is  said  to  come  and  see 
her  now  and  then,  so  probably  it  will  be  saved. 

Would  you  not  turn  away  from  that  palace  with  the 
contemptuous  thought  —  Civilized  \  Refined  %  These 
people's  civilization  is  but  skin-deep.  Their  refine- 
ment is  but  an  outside  show.  Look  into  the  first  back 
room,  and  you  find  that  they  are  foul  barbarians  still. 

And  yet  such,  literally  such  and  no  better,  is  the 
refinement  of  modern  England  ;  such,  and  no  better,  is 
the  civilization  of  our  great  towns.  Such  I  fear  from 
what  I  am  told,  is  the  civilization  of  Southsea,  beside 
the  barbarism  to  be  found  in  Portsea  close  at  hand. 
Dirt  and  squalor,  brutality  and  ignorance  close  beside 
such  luxury  as  the  world  has  not  seen,  it  may  be,  since 
the  bad  days  of  Heathen  Rome. 

But  more,  if  you  turned  away,  you  would  say  to 
yourselves,  if  you  were  thoughtful  persons — not  only 
what  barbarism,  but  what  folly.  The  owner  and  his 
household  arc  in  daily  danger.  The  idiot  in  discontent, 
or  even  in  mf-re  folly,  may  seize  a  lighted  candle,  bum 
petroleum,  as  she  did  in  Paris  of  late,  and  set  the  whole 


340  Useless  Sacrifice. 

palace  on  fire.  And  more,  the  very  dirt  is  in  itself  in- 
flammable, and  capable,  as  it  festers,  of  spontaneous 
combustion.  How  many  a  stately  house  has  been  burni 
down  ere  now,  simply  by  the  heating  of  greasy  rags, 
thrust  away  in  some  neglected  closet.  Let  the  owner  of 
the  house  beware.  He  is  living,  voluntarily,  over  a 
volcano  of  his  own  making. 

But  more — what  if  you  were  told  that  the  fault  lay 
not  so  much  in  the  negligence  of  servants  as  in  that  of  the 
owner  himself,  that  the  master  of  that  palace  had  over 
him  a  King,  to  whom  all  that  was  foul,  neglectful,  cruel, 
was  inexpressibly  hateful,  so  hateful  that  He  once  had 
actually  stepped  off  the  throne  of  the  universe  to  die  for 
such  creatures  as  that  poor  idiot  and  her  forgotten 
parents  ?  Would  you  not  question  whether  the  prayers 
offered  up  in  that  chapel  would  have  any  answer  from 
Him,  save  that  awful  answer  He  once  gave  ?  "  When 
ye  spread  forth  your  hands,  I  will  hide  mine  eyes  :  yea, 
when  ye  make  many  prayers,  I  will  not  hear ;  your 
hands  are  full  of  blood." 

Oh,  my  friends,  you  who  understand  my  parable,  has 
the  awful  thought  never  struck  you  that  such  may  be 
God's  answer  to  the  prayers  of  a  nation  which  leaves  in 
its  midst  such  barbarism,  such  heathenism,  as  exists  in 
every  great  town  of  this  realm  ?  And  what  if  you  were 
told  next  that  the  laws  of  His  kingdom  were  eternal  and 
inexorable,  and  that  one  of  His  cardinal  laws  is — -that  as 
a  man  sows,  so  shall  he  reap ;  that  every  sin  punishes 
itself,  even  though  the  sinner  does  not  know  that  he 
has  sinned  ;  that  he  who  knew  not  his  master's  will, 
and  did  it  not,  shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes  ;  that 


Useless  Sacrifice.  341 

the  innocent  babe  does  not  escape  unbumt,  because  it 
knew  not  that  fire  burns  ;  that  the  good  man  who 
lives  in  a  malarious  alley  does  not  escape  fever  and 
cholera,  because  he  does  not  know  that  dirt  breeds 
pestilence ;  that,  in  a  word,  he  who  knew  not  his 
master's  will,  and  did  it  not,  shall  be  beaten  with  few 
stripes  ;  but  that  he  who  knew  his  master's  will,  and 
did  it  not,  shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes  ?  Then  of 
how  many  and  how  heavy  stripes,  think  you,  will  the 
inhabitant  of  that  palace  be  counted  worthy,  who  has 
been  taught  by  Christianity  for  the  last  fifteen  hundred 
years,  and  by  physical  science  and  political  economy  for  the 
last  fifty  years,  and  yet  persists,  in  defiance  of  his  own 
knowledge,  in  leaving  his  used-up  servants,  and  their 
children  and  grand-children  after  them,  to  rot,  body, 
mind,  and  soul,  in  the  very  precincts  of  the  palace, 
having  no  other  excuse  to  offer  for  this  than  that  it  is 
too  much  trouble  to  treat  them  better,  and  that,  on  the 
whole,  he  can  make  money  more  rapidly  by  thus  throw- 
ing away  that  human  dirt,  and  leaving  it  to  decay 
where  it  can,  regardless  what  it  pollutes  and  poisons  ; 
just  as  the  manufacturer  can  make  money  more  rapidly 
by  not  consuming  his  own  smoke,  but  letting  it  stream 
out  of  the  chimney  to  poison  with  blackness  and  deso- 
lation the  green  fields  where  God  meant  little  children 
to  gather  flowers  ? 

Ladies,  to  you  I  appeal,  not  merely  as  women,  but  as 
Ladies,  if  (as  I  am  assured  by  those  who  know  you), 
ladies  you  are,  in  the  grand  old  meaning  of  that  grand 
old  word. 

If  so — you  know  then,  what  it  is  to  be  a  lady  and 


342.  Useless  Sacrifice, 

what  not.  You  know  that  it  is  not  to  go,  like  the 
daughters  of  Zion  in  Isaiah's  time,  with  mincing  gait, 
and  borrowed  head-gear,  and  tasteless  finer}^,  the  head 
well-nigh  empty,  the  heart  full  of  little  save  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit,  busy  all  the  week  over  cheap  novels 
and  expensive  dresses,  and  on  Sunday  over  a  little 
dilettante  devotion.  You  know,  I  take  for  granted, 
that  whatever  the  world  may  think  or  say,  that  to  be 
that,  is  not  to  be  a  lady. 

For  you  know,  I  take  for  granted,  what  that  word 
lady  meant  at  first.  That  it  meant  she  who  gave  oat 
the  loaves;  the  housewife  who  provided  food  and  clothes; 
the  stewardess  of  her  household  and  dependants  ;  the 
spinner  among  her  maidens  ;  the  almsgiver  to  the  poor  ; 
the  worshipper  in  the  chapel,  praying  for  wild  men 
away  in  battle.  The  being  from  whom  flowed  forth  all 
gracious  influences  of  thought  and  order,  of  bounty  and 
compassion,  of  purity  and  piety,  civilizing  and  Christianiz- 
ing a  whole  family,  a  whole  domain.  This  it  was  to  be 
a  lady,  in  the  old  days  when  too  many  men  had  little  care 
save  to  make  war.  And  this  it  is  to  be  a  lady  still,  in 
the  new  days  in  which  too  many  men  have  little  care  save 
to  make  money.  Show  then  that  you  can  be  ladies 
still.  That  the  spirit  is  the  spirit  of  your  ancestresses, 
though  the  form  in  which  it  must  show  itself  is  changed 
with  the  change  of  society. 

To  you  I  appeal ;  to  as  many  in  this  church  as  are 
ladies,  not  in  name  only,  but  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 
Say  to  your  fathers,  husbands,  brothers,  sons,  and  say 
too,  and  that  boldly,  to  the  tradesmen  with  whom  you 
deal — Do  you  hear  this  ?     Do  you  hear  that  there  are 


Useless  Sacrifice,  343 

savages  and  heathens,  generations  of  them,  within  a 
rifle-shot  of  the  house  ?  And  you  cannot  exterminate 
them  ;  cannot  drive  them  out,  much  less  kill  them. 
You  must  convert  them,  improve  them,  make  them 
civilized  and  christian,  if  not  for  their  own  sakes,  at 
least  for  our  sakes,  and  for  our  children. 

And  if  they  should  answer :  My  dears,  it  is  too  true. 
But  we  did  not  make  them  or  put  them  there,  and  they 
are  not  in  our  parish.  They  are  no  concern  of  ours, 
and  besides  they  will  not  hurt  us. 

Answer  them  :  Not  made  by  our  fault !  True,  our 
hands  are  more  or  less  clean  :  but  what  of  that  ?  There 
they  are.  If  you  had  a  tribe  of  Red  Indians  on  the 
frontier  of  your  settlement,  would  you  take  the  less 
guard  against  them,  because  you  did  not  put  them  there? 
Not  in  our  parish,  and  what  of  that  ?  They  are  in  our 
county ;  they  are  in  England.  Has  man  the  right, 
has  man  the  power  in  the  sight  of  God  to  draw  any 
imaginary  line  of  demarcation  between  Englishman  and 
Englishman,  especially  when  that  line  is  drawn  between 
rich  and  poor  ?  England  knows  no  line  of  demarcation, 
save  the  shore  of  the  great  sea ;  and  even  that  her 
generosity  is  overleaping  at  this  moment  at  the  call  of 
mere  humanity,  in  bounty  to  sufferers  by  the  West 
Indian  hurricane,  and  by  the  Chicago  fire.  Will  you 
send  your  help  across  the  Atlantic ;  and  deny  it  to 
the  sufferers  at  your  own  doors  ?  At  least,  if  the  rich 
be  confined  by  an  imaginary  line  across,  the  poor  on 
the  other  side  will  not — they  will  cross  it  freely 
enough  ;  and  what  they  will  bring  with  them  will  be 
concern  enough  of  ours.      Would  it  not  be  our  concern 


344  Useless  Sacrifice. 

if  there  was  small-pox,  scarlet  fever,  cholera  araong 
them  ?  Should  we  not  fear  lest  that  might  hurt  us  ? 
Would  you  not  bestir  yourselves  then  ?  And  do  you 
not  know  that  it  is  among  such  people  as  these  that 
pestilence  is  always  bred  ?  And  if  not,  is  not  the  pestilence 
of  the  soul  more  subtle  and  more  contagious  than  an) 
pestilence  of  the  body?  What  is  the  spreading  powei 
of  fever  to  the  spreading  power  of  vice,  which  springs 
from  tongue  to  tongue,  from  eye  to  eye,  from  heart  to 
heart  ?  What  matter  whether  they  be  one  mile  off  or 
five  ?  Will  not  they  corrupt  our  servants ;  and  those 
servants  again  our  children  ?  • 

And  say  to  them,  if  you  be  prudent  and  thrifty 
housewives,  Do  not  tell  us  that  their  condition  costs 
you  nothing.  Even  in  pocket  you  are  suffering  now 
— as  all  England  is  suffering — from  the  existence  of 
heathens  and  savages,  reckless,  profligate,  pauperized. 
For  if  you  pay  no  poor-rates  for  their  support,  the 
shop-keepers  with  whom  you  deal  pay  poor-rates  ;  and 
must  and  do  repay  themselves,  out  of  your  pockets,  in 
the  form  of  increased  prices  for  their  goods. 

And  when  you  have  said  all  this,  ladies,  and  more, — 
for  more  will  suggest  itself  to  your  woman's  wit, — say  to 
them  with  St  Paul — "  And  yet  show  we  unto  you  a 
more  excellent  way," — a  nobler  argument — and  that  is 
Charity. 

Not  almsgiving.  I  had  almost  said,  anything  but 
that ;  making  bad  worse,  the  improvident  more  impro- 
vident, the  liar  more  ready  to  lie,  the  idler  more  ready 
to  idle.  But  the  Charity  which  is  Humanity,  which  is 
the  spirit  of  pure  pity,  the  Spirit  of  Christ  and  of  God. 


Useless  Sacrifice,  345 

Say  then,  Even  if  these  poor  creatures  did  us  no 
harm,  as  they  must  and  will  do — civilize  and  christianize 
them  for  their  own  sakes,  simply  because  they  must  be 
so  very  miserable — miserable  too  often  with  acute  and 
conscious  misery ;  too  often  with  a  worse  misery,  dull 
and  unconscious,  which  knows  not,  stupified  by  ignorance 
and  vice,  that  it  is  miserable,  and  ought  to  be  more 
miserable  still.  For  who  is  so  worthy  of  our  pity,  as  he 
who  knows  not  that  he  is  pitiable  ? — who  takes  ignorance, 
dirt,  vice,  passion,  and  the  wretchedness  which  vice  and 
passion  bring,  as  all  in  the  day's  work,  as  he  takes  the 
rain  and  hail,  the  frost  and  snow, — as  unavoidable 
necessities  of  mortal  life,  for  which  the  only  temporary 
alleviation  is — drink  ? 

If  the  refined  and  pure-minded  lady  does  not  pity 
such  beings  as  that,  I  know  not  of  what  her  refinement 
is  made.  If  the  religious  lady  will  not  bestir  herself, 
and  make  sacrifices  to  teach  such  people  that  that  is 
not  what  God  meant  them  to  be — to  stir  up  in  them  a 
noble  self-discontent,  a  noble  self-abhorrence,  which  may 
be  the  beginning  of  repentance  and  amendment  of  life — 
I  know  not  of  what  her  religion  is  made. 

One  word  more — I  know  that  such  thoughts  as  I 
have  put  before  you  to-day  are  painful.  I  know  that 
we  all — I  as  much  as  anyone  in  this  church — are 
tempted  to  put  them  by,  and  say,  I  will  think  of  things 
beautiful,  not  of  things  ugly  ;  of  art,  poetry,  science — 
all  that  is  orderly,  graceful,  ennobling  ;  and  not  of  dirt, 
ignorance,  vice,  misery,  all  that  is  disorderly,  degrading. 
Nay,  even  the  most  pious  at  times  are  tempted  to  say, 
I  will  think  of  heaven  and  not  of  earth.      I  will  lift  up 


346  Useless  Sacrifice. 

my  heart,  and  try  to  behold  the  glory  and  the  goodness 
of  God,  and  not  the  disgrace  and  sin  of  man. 

But  only  for  a  time  may  they  thus  think  and  speak. 
Happy  if  they  can,  at  moments,  lift  up  their  hearts  unto 
the  Lord,  and  catch  one  glimpse  of  Him  enthroned  in 
perfect  serenity  and  perfect  order,  governing  the  worlds 
with  that  all-embracing  justice,  which  is  at  the  same 
time  all-embracing  love,  and  so,  giving  Him  thanks  for 
His  great  glory,  gain  heart  and  hope  to — what  ?  To 
descend  again,  even  were  it  from  the  beatific  vision 
itself,  to  this  disordered  earth,  to  work  a  little — and,  alas 
how  little — at  lessening  the  sum  of  human  ignorance, 
human  vice,  human  misery — even  as  their  Lord  and 
Saviour  stooped  from  the  throne  of  the  universe,  and 
from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  to  toil  and  die  for  such 
as  curse  about  the  streets  outside. 


SERMON  XXXYIL 

THE    SURPRISE    OF   THE    RIGHTEOUS. 

Preached  at  Southsea  for  the  Mission  or  the  Good  Shepherd. 

October  1871, 

St  Matt.  xxv.  34-37. 

"  TLen  shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand,  Come,  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world  :  For  I  was  an  hungred,  and  ye  gave 
me  meat  :  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink  :  I  was  a  stranger, 
and  ye  took  me  in  :  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  :  I  was  sick,  and 
ye  visited  me  :  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  me.  Then  shall 
the  righteous  answer  him,  saying.  Lord,  when  saw  we  Thee  an 
hungred,  and  fed  Thee  ?  or  thirsty,  and  gave  Thee  drink  ?" 

Let  us  consider  awhile  this  magnificent  parable,  and 
consider  it  carefully,  lest  we  mistake  its  meaning. 
And  let  us  specially  consider  one  point  about  it, 
which  is  at  first  sight  puzzling,  and  which  has  caused, 
ere  now,  many  to  miss  (as  I  believe,  with  some  of  the 
best  commentators,)  the  meaning  of  the  whole — which 
is  this :  that  the  righteous  in  the  parable  did  not  know 
that  when  they  did  good  to  their  fellow-creatures,  they 
did  it  to  Christ  the  Lord. 

Now  there  are  two  kinds  of  people  who  do  know 
that,  because  they  have  been  taught  it  by  Holy  Scrip- 
ture, who  would  make  two  very  different  answers  to  the 
Lord,  when  He  spoke  in  such  words  to  them.      At  least 


34^  The  Surprise  of  the  Righteous, 

so  we  may  suppose,  for  they  are  ready  to  make  such 
answers  here  on  earth  ;  and  therefore,  we  may  suppose 
that  if  they  dared,  they  would  answer  so  at  the  day  of 
judgment.  One  party  would — or  at  least  might  say, 
"  Yes,  Lord,  I  knew  that  whatever  I  did  to  the  poor,  I 
did  to  Thee ;  and  therefore  I  did  all  I  could  for  the 
poor.  I  started  charitable  institutions,  I  spoke  at 
missionary  meetings,  I  put  my  name  down  for  large 
sums  in  every  subscription  list,  I  built  churches  and 
chapels,  schools  and  hospitals  ;  I  gained  the  reputation 
among  men  of  being  a  leading  philanthropist,  foremost 
in  every  good  work." 

What  answer  the  man  who  said  that  would  receive 
from  the  Lord,  I  know  not ;  for  who  am  I  that  I  should 
put  words  into  the  mouth  of  my  Creator  and  my  God  ? 
But  I  think  that  the  awful  majesty  of  the  Lord's  very 
countenance  might  strike  such  a  man  dumb,  ere  he  had 
time  to  say  those  vain  proud  words,  and  strike  his  conscience 
through  with  the  thought,  Yes,  I  have  been  charitable  : 
but  have  I  been  humane?  I  have  been  a  philanthropist: 
but  have  I  really  loved  my  fellow-men  ?  Have  I  not 
made  my  interest  in  the  heathen  whom  I  have  not  seen, 
an  excuse  for  despising  and  hating  my  countrymen  whom 
I  have  seen,  if  they  dared  to  differ  from  me  in  religion  or 
in  politics  ?  I  have  given  large  sums  in  charity  :  but 
have  I  ever  sacrificed  anything  for  my  fellow-men  ?  I 
have  given  Christ  back  a  pound  in  every  hundred — per- 
haps even  out  of  every  ten  which  He  has  given  me :  but 
what  did  I  do  with  the  other  nine  pounds  save  spend 
them  on  myself  ?  Is  there  a  luxury  in  which  a  respect- 
able man  could  safely  indulge,  which  I  have  denied  my- 


The  Surprise  of  the  Righteous,  349 

self?  What  have  I  been  after  all,  with  all  my  philanthropy 
and  charity,  but  a  selfish,  luxurious,  pompous  personage  ? 
an  actor  doing  my  alms  to  be  seen  of  men  ?  I  did  my 
good  works  as  unto  Christ  ? — No  ;  I  did  them  as  unto 
myself — to  get  honour  from  men  while  I  lived,  and  to 
save  my  selfish  soul  when  I  died.  God  be  merciful  to 
me  a  sinner  !  That  such  thoughts  ought  to  pass  through 
too  many  persons'  hearts  iu  this  generation,  I  fear  is  too 
certain.  God  grant  that  they  may  do  so  before  it  is  too 
late.  But  it  is  plain,  at  least,  that  these  are  not  the 
sheep  of  whom  Christ  speaks. 

Again,  there  are  another,  and  a  very  different  kind  of 
persons,  who  we  have  a  right  to  fancy,  would  answer  the 
Lord  somewhat  thus  ;  *'  Oh  Lord,  speak  not  of  it.  It 
may  be  I  have  tried  to  do  a  little  good  to  a  poor 
suffering  creature  here  and  there  ;  to  feed  a  few  hungry, 
clothe  a  few  naked,  visit  a  few  sick  and  prisoners.  But 
Lord,  how  could  I  do  less  ?  after  all  that  Thou  hast 
done  and  suffered  for  me  ;  and  after  Thy  own  gracious 
saying,  that  inasmuch  as  I  did  anything  to  the  least  of 
Thy  brethren,  I  did  it  to  Thee.  What  less  could  I  do, 
Lord  ? — and  after  all,  what  a  pitifully  small  amount  I 
have  done  !  Thou  did'st  hunger  for  me — for  whom 
Lave  I  ever  hungered  ?  Thou  did'st  suffer  for  me — for 
whom  have  I  ever  suffered  ?  Thou  did'st  die  for  me — 
for  whom  have  I  ever  died  ?  And  I  did  not — I  fear  in 
the  depth  of  my  heart — do  what  I  did  really  for  Thee  ; 
but  for  the  very  pleasure  of  doing  it.  I  began  to  do 
good  from  a  sense  of  duty  to  Thee  ;  but  after  a  while  I 
did  good,  I  fear,  only  because  it  was  so  pleasant — so 
pleasant  to  see  human  faces  looking  up  into  mine  with 


350  The  Surprise  of  the  Righteous. 

gratitude;  so  pleasant  to  have  little  children,  even  though 
they  were  none  of  my  own,  clinging  to  me  in  trust  ;  so 
pleasant  when  I  went  home  at  night  to  feel  that  I  had 
made  one  human  being  a  little  happier,  a  little  better, 
even  only  a  little  more  comfortable  ;  so  pleasant  to  give 
up  my  own  pleasure,  in  order  to  give  pleasure  to  others, 
that  I  fear  I  forgot  Thee  in  my  own  enjoyment.  If  I 
sinned  in  that.  Lord  forgive.  But  at  least,  I  have  had 
my  reward.  My  work  among  Thy  poor  was  its  own 
reward,  a  reward  of  inward  happiness  beyond  all  that 
earth  can  give — and  now  Thou  speakest  of  rewarding 
me  over  and  above,  with  I  know  not  what  of  un- 
deserved bliss.  Thou  art  too  good,  O  Lord,  as  is  Thy 
wont  from  all  eternity.  Let  me  go  and  hide  myself — 
a  more  than  unprofitable  servant,  who  has  not  done  the 
hundredth  part  of  that  which  it  was  my  duty  to  do." 

What  answer  the  Lord  would  make  to  the  modest 
misgivings  of  that  sweet  soul,  I  cannot  say  ;  for  again, 
who  am  I,  that  I  should  put  words  into  the  mouth  of 
my  Creator  and  my  God  ?  But  this  I  know,  that  I  had 
rather  be — what  I  am  not,  and  never  shall  be — such  a 
soul  as  that  in  the  last  day,  than  own  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  world  and  the  glory  thereof.  Still,  it  is  plain 
that  such  persons,  however  holy,  however  loving,  are  not 
those  of  whom  our  Lord  speaks  in  this  parable.  For 
they,  too,  know,  and  must  know,  that  inasmuch  as  they 
showed  mercy  unto  one  of  the  least  of  the  Lord's 
brethren,  they  showed  it  unto  Him.  But  the  special 
peculiarity  of  the  persons  of  whom  our  Lord  speaks,  is 
that  they  did  not  know,  that  they  had  no  suspicion,  that 
in  showing  kindness  to  men,  they  were  showing  kind- 


The  Surprise  of  the  Righteous.  351 

ness  to  Christ.  "  Lord,"  they  answer,  "  when  saw  we 
Thee?" 

It  is  a  revelation  to  them,  in  the  strictest  and  deepest 
sense  of  the  word.  A  revelation,  that  is  an  unveiling, 
a  drawing  away  of  a  veil  which  was  before  their  eyes 
and  hiding  from  them  a  divine  and  most  blessed  fact,  of 
which  they  had  been  unaware.  But  who  are  they  ?  I 
think  we  must  agree  with  some  of  the  best  commentators, 
among  others  with  that  excellent  divine  and  excellent 
man,  now  lost  to  the  Church  on  earth,  the  late  Dean  of 
Canterbury,  that  they  are  persons  who,  till  the  day  of 
judgment,  have  never  heard  of  Christ;  but  who  then,  for 
the  first  time,  as  Dean  Alford  says,  ''are  overwhelmed 
with  the  sight  of  the  grace  which  has  been  working  in 
and  for  them,  and  the  glory  which  is  now  their  blessed 
portion."  Such  persons,  perhaps,  as  those  two  poor 
negresses — to  remind  you  of  a  story  which  was  famous 
in  our  fathers'  time — those  two  poor  negresses,  I  say, 
who  found  the  African  traveller,  Mungo  Park,  dying  of 
fever  and  starvation,  and  saved  his  life,  simply  from 
human  love — as  they  sung  to  themselves  by  his  bed- 
side— 

'*  Let  us  pity  the  poor  white  man  ; 
He  has  no  mother  to  make  his  bed, 
No  wife  to  grind  his  corn." 

Perhaps  it  is  such  as  those,  who  have  succoured  human 
beings  they  knew  not  why,  simply  from  a  divine 
instinct,  from  the  voice  of  Christ  withiij  their  hearts, 
which  they  felt  they  must  obey,  though  they  knew  not 
whose  voice  it  was.  Perhaps,  I  say,  it  is  such  as 
those,  that  Christ  will  astonish  at  the  last  day  by  the 


352  The  Surprise  of  the  Righteous. 

words,  "  Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the 
kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world." 

If  this  be  the  true  meaning  of  our  Lord's  words,  what 
comfort  and  hope  they  may  give  us,  when  we  think,  as 
we  are  bound  to  think,  if  we  have  a  true  humanity  in  us, 
of  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  heathen  now  alive,  and  of 
the  thousands  of  millions  of  heathen  who  have  lived  and 
died.  Sinful  they  are  as  a  whole.  Sinning,  it  may  be, 
without  law,  but  perishing  without  law.  For  the  wages 
of  sin  are  death,  and  can  be  nothing  else.  But  may  not 
Christ  have  His  elect  among  them  '{  May  not  His 
Spirit  be  working  in  some  of  them  ?  May  He  not  have 
His  sheep  among  them,  who  hear  His  voice  though  they 
know  not  that  it  is  His  voice  ?  They  hear  a  voice 
within  their  hearts  whispering  to  them,  "  Be  loving,  be 
merciful,  be  humane,  in  one  word  be  just,  and  do  to 
others  as  you  would  they  should  do  to  you."  And 
whose  voice  can  that  be  but  the  voice  of  Christ,  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  ?  Those  loving  instincts  come  not  from 
the  fleshly  fallen  nature,  or  natural  man.  That  says  to 
us,  ''  Be  selfish  ;  do  not  be  loving.  Do  to  others  not 
what  you  would  they  should  do  to  you,  but  do  to  others 
whatever  is  pleasant  and  profitable  to  yourselves." 
And  alas  !  the  heathen,  and  too  many  who  call  them- 
selves Christians,  listen  to  that  carnal  voice,  and  live  the 
life  of  selfishness  and  pleasure,  of  anger  and  revenge,  of 
tyranny  and  cruelty — the  end  of  which  is  death. 

But  if  any  among  those  heathen — hearing  within  their 
hearts  the  other  voice,  the  gracious  voice  which  says, 
"  Do  unto  others  as  you  would   they  should  do  unto 


The  Surp^Hse  of  the  Righteous.  353 

you," — feel  that  that  voice  is  a  good  voice  and  a  right 
command,  which  must  be  obeyed,  and  wliich  it  is  beau- 
tiful and  delightful  to  obey,  and  so  obey  it ;  may  we  not 
hope  then,  that  Christ,  who  has  called  them,  will  perfect 
His  own  work  ;  and  in  His  own  good  way,  aud  His  own 
good  time,  deliver  them  from  their  sin  and  ignorance,  and 
vouchsafe  to  them  at  last  that  knowledge  of  the  true  and 
holy  God,  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit,  whom  truly  to 
know  is  everlasting  life  ?  They  are  Christ's  lost  sheep  : 
but  they  are  still  His  sheep  who  hear  His  voice.  May 
He  not  fulfil  His  own  words  to  them,  and  go  forth  and 
seek  such  souls,  and  lay  them  on  His  shoulder,  and  bring 
them  home  ;  saying  to  His  Church  on  earth,  and  to  His 
Church  in  heaven,  ''  Kejoice  with  Me  :  for  I  have  found 
my  sheep  which  was  lost  ? " 

Now  if  we  can  thus  have  hope  for  some  among  the 
heathen  abroad,  shall  we  not  have  hope,  too,  for  some 
among  the  heathen  at  home  ?  for  some  among  that 
mass  of  human  corruption  which  welters  around  the 
walls  of  so  many  of  our  cities  ?  I  am  not  going  to 
make  vain  excuses  for  them  ;  and  say  they  are  but  the 
victims  of  circumstance.  The  great  majority  of  them  are 
the  victims  of  their  own  low  instincts.  They  have  chosen 
the  broad  and  easy  road  of  animalism,  which  leads  to 
destruction.  They  have  sown  to  the  flesh,  and  they  will 
of  the  flesh  reap  corruption.  For  the  laws  of  God  are 
inexorable  ;  and  the  curse  of  the  law  is  sure,  namely, 
"The  wages  of  sin  are  death."  Neither  dare  I  encourage 
too  vast  hopes  and  say.  If  we  had  money  enough,  if  we 
had  machinery  enough,  if  we  had  zeal  enough,  we  might 
convert  them  all,  and  save  them  all.     I  dare  not  believe 

z 


354  ^'^^  Surprise  of  the  Righteous. 

it.  The  many,  I  fear,  will  always  go  the  broad  road; 
the  few  the  narrow  one.  And  all  we  dare  say  is,  if  we 
have  faith  enough,  we  can  convert  some.  We  can  at 
least  fulfil  our  ordination  vow.  We  can  seek  out  Christ's 
sheep  scattered  abroad  about  this  naughty  world,  and 
tell  them  of  His  fold,  and  try  to  bring  them  home. 

But  how  shall  w^e  know  Christ's  sheep  when  we  see 
them  ?  How,  but  by  the  very  test  which  Christ  has 
laid  down,  it  seems  to  me,  in  this  very  parable  ?  Is 
there  in  one  of  them  the  high  instincts — even  the  desire 
to  do  a  merciful  act  ?  Let  us  watch  for  that :  and  when 
in  the  most  brutal  man,  and — alas  that  I  should  have 
to  use  the  words — in  the  most  brutal  woman,  we  see  any 
touch  of  nobleness,  justice,  benevolence,  pity,  tender- 
ness— in  one  word,  any  touch,  however  momentary,  of 
unselfishness, — let  us  spring  at  that,  knowing  that  there 
is  the  soul  we  seek  ;  there  is  a  lost  sheep  of  Christ ; 
there  is  Christ  Himself,  working  unknown  upon  a  human 
soul  ;  there  is  a  soul  ready  for  the  gospel,  and  not  far 
from  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  what  shall  we  say  to 
that  lost  sheep  ?  Shall  we  terrify  it  by  threats  of  hell  ? 
Shall  we  even  allure  it  by  promises  of  heaven  ?  Not 
so — not  so  at  least  at  first — for  that  would  be  to  appeal 
to  bodily  fear  and  bodily  pleasure,  to  the  very  selfishness 
from  which  Christ  is  trying  to  deliver  it ;  and  to  neglect 
the  very  prevenient  grace,  the  very  hold  on  the  soul 
which  Christ  Himself  offers  us.  Let  us  determine  with 
St.  Paul  to  know  nothing  among  our  fellow-men  but 
Christ  crucified.  Let  us  appeal  just  to  that  in  the  soul 
which  is  unselfish ;  not  to  the  instincts  of  loss  and  gain, 
but  to  those  nobler  instincts  of  justice  and  mercy;  just 


The  Surprise  of  the  Righteous.  355 

because  they  are  not  the  man's  or  the  woman's  instincts; 
but  Christ's  within  them,  the  light  of  Christ  and  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  the  spirit  of  love  and  justice  saying, 
''Do  unto  others  as  you  would  they  should  do  unto  you." 
Do  you   doubt  that  ?     I  trust  not.      For  to  doubt  that 
is  to  doubt  whether  God  be  truly  the  Giver  of  all   good 
things.      To   doubt   that  is   to  begin   to   disbelieve   St. 
Paul's    great    saying,    ''  In    me,   that   is,    in   my  flesh, 
dwelleth  no  good  thing."      To  doubt  that  is  to  lay  our 
hearts  and  minds  open  to  the  insidious  poison  of  that 
Pelagian  heresy  which,  received  under  new  shapes  and 
names,  is  becoming  the  cardinal  heresy  of  modern  dis- 
belief.     No  ;  we  will  have  faith  in  Christ,  faith  in  our 
creeds,  faith  in  catholic  doctrine ;  and  will  say  to  that  man 
or  that  woman,  even  as  they  wallow  still  in  the  darkness 
and  the  mire,  "  Behold   your  God  !     That  cup  of  cold 
water  which  you  gave,  you  knew  not  why, — Christ  told 
you  to  give  it,  and  to  Him  you  gave.    That  night  watch 
beside  the  bed  of  a  woman  as  fallen  as  yourself, — Christ 
bade  you  watch,  and  you  watched  by  Him.      For  that 
drunken  ruffian,  whom  you,  a  drunken  ruffian  yourself, 
leaped  into  the   sea  to  save,  Christ  bade  you  leap,  and 
like  St.  Christopher  of  old,  you   bore,  though  you  knew 
it  not,  your  Saviour  and  your  God  to  land."     And  if  they 
shall  make  answer,  ''And  who  is  He  that  I  did  not  know 
Him?  who  is  He  that  I  should  know  Him  now  ?"      Let 
us  point  them — and  whither  else  should  we  point  them 
in  heaven  or    earth  ? — to  Christ   upon   the   cross,  and 
say,  ''Behold  your  God!     This  He  did,  this  He  conde- 
scended, this  He  dared,  this  He  suffered  for  you,  and  such 
as  you.      This  is  what  He,  the  Maker  of  the  universe,  is 


356  The  Surprise  of  the  Righteous, 

like.  This  is  what  He  has  been  trying  to  make  you  like, 
in  your  small  degree,  every  time  a  noble,  a  generous,  a 
pitiful,  a  merciful  emotion  crossed  your  heart;  every  time 
you  forgot  yourself,  even  for  a  moment,  and  thought  of 
the  welfare  of  a  fellow-man." 

If  that  tale,  if  that  sight,  if  that  revelation  and  un- 
veiling of  Christ  to  the  poor  sinful  soul  does  not  work 
in  it  an  abhorrence  of  past  sin,  a  craving  after  future 
holiness,  an  admiration  and  a  reverence  for  Christ  Him- 
self, which  is,  ipso  facto,  saving  faith;  if  that  soul  does 
not  reply — it  may  not  be  in  words,  but  in  feelings  too 
deep  for  words, — ''Yes;  this  is  indeed  noble,  indeed  God- 
like, worthy  of  a  God,  and  worthy  therefore  to  be  at 
once  imitated  and  adored  : "  then,  indeed,  the  Cross  of 
Christ  must  have  lost  that  miraculous  power  which  it 
has  possessed,  for  more  than  eighteen  hundred  years,  as 
the  highest  ''  moral  ideal  "  which  ever  was  seen,  or  ever 
can  be  seen,  by  the  reason  and  the  heart  of  man. 


SERMON  XXXVIII. 

THE  lord's  prayer.  V 
Windsor  Castle,  1867.     Chester  Cathedral,  1870. 
Matthew  vi.  9,  10. 

"After  this  manner,  therefore,  pray  ye,  Our  Father  which  art  in 
heaven,  hallowed  be  thy  name,  thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be 
done,  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven." 

Let  us  think  for  a  while  on  these  great  words.      Let  us 

remember  that  some  day  or  other  they  will  certainly  be 

fulfilled.      Let  us  remember  that  Christ  would   not  have 

bidden  us  use  them,  unless  He  intended  that  they  should 

be  fulfilled.      And   let  us  remember,   likewise,  that  we 

must  help  to  fulfil  them.      We  need  to  be  reminded  of 

this  from  time  to  time,  for  we  are  all  inclined  to  forget 

it.     We  are  inclined  to  forget  that  mankind  has  a  Father 

in  heaven,  who  is  ruling,  and  guiding,  and  educating  us, 

His  human  children,  to 

*'  One  far  oflF  divine  event, 
Toward  which  the  whole  creation  moves." 

We  are  apt  to  fancy  that  the  world  will  always  go  on 

very  much  as  it  goes  on  now  ;    that  it  will  be  guided, 

not  by  the    will  of  God,  but  by  the  will  of  man  ;    by 

man's  craft  ;  by  man's  ambition ;  by  man's  self-interest ; 


358  The  Lord's  Prayer, 

by  man's  cravings  after  the  luxuries,  and  even  after  the 
mere  necessities  of  this  life.  In  a  word,  we  are  apt  to 
fancy  that  man,  not  God,  is  the  master  of  this  earth  on 
which  we  live,  and  that  men  have  no  king  over  them  in 
heaven. 

The  Lord's  Prayer  tens  us  thai  men  Imve  a  king  over 
them  in  heaven,  and  that  that  king  is  a  Father  likewise 
— a  Father  whose  name  will  one  day  be  hallowed  above 
all  names.  That  the  world  will  not  always  go  on  as  it 
goes  on  now,  but  that  the  Father's  kingdom  will  come. 
That  above  the  will  of  man,  there  is  a  will  of  God,  which 
must  be  done,  and  therefore  will  be  done  some  day. 
In  a  word,  the  Lord's  Prayer  tells  us  that  this  world 
is  under  a  Divine  government ;  that  the  Lord,  even  Jesus 
Christ  our  Saviour,  is  King,  be  the  people  never  so  im- 
patient. That  He  sitteth  between  the  cherubim,  master 
of  all  the  powers  of  nature,  be  the  earth  never  so  unquiet. 
That  His  power  loves  justice.  That  He  has  prepared 
equity.  That  He  has  executed,  and  therefore  will  execute 
to  the  end,  judgment  and  righteousness  in  the  earth. 
That  Christ  reigns  in  justice  and  in  love.  That  He 
has  for  those  who  disobey  His  laws  the  most  terrible 
penalties  ;  for  those  who  obey  them  blessings  such  as 
eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard,  nor  hath  it  entered 
iuto  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive.  That  He  must  reign 
till  He  has  put  all  enemies  under  His  feet  and  delivered 
up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the  Father.  That  on 
that  great  day  He  will  prove  His  royalty,  and  His 
Father's  royalty,  in  the  sight  of  all  heaven  and  earth, 
and  make  every  soul  of  man  aware,  in  a  fashion  which 
none  shall  mistake,  that  He  is  Lord  and  King.      This  is 


The  Lord's  Prayer.  359 

the  message  which  the  Lord's  Prayer  brings — a  message 
of  mingled  fear  and  joy. 

Bat  a  message  of  more  joy  than  fear.  Else  why  does 
our  Lord  bid  us  pray  for  it  that  it  may  come  to  pass? — 
pray  daily,  before  we  even  pray  for  our  daily  bread,  or  the 
forgiveness  of  our  sins — that  His  Father's  name  may  be 
hallowed.  His  Father's  kingdom  come,  His  Father's  will 
be  done  ? 

He  bids  us  pray  for  that  because  it  will  bring  bless- 
ings. Blessings  to  every  soul  of  man  who  desires  to  be 
good  and  true.  Because  it  will  satisfy  every  aspiration 
which  has  ever  risen  up  from  the  heart  of  man  after 
what  is  noble,  what  is  generous,  what  is  just,  what  is 
useful,  what  is  pure.  Surely  it  is  so.  Consider  but 
these  short  words  of  my  text,  and  think  what  the  world 
would  be  like  if  they  were  fulfilled :  what  the  next  world 
will  actually  be  like  when  they  are  fulfilled. 

"  Hallowed  be  thy  name."  But  what  name  ?  The  name 
of  Father.  If  that  name  were  hallowed  by  men,  there 
would  be  an  end  of  all  superstitions.  The  root  of  all 
superstitions,  fanaticisms,  and  false  religions  is  this — that 
they  do  not  hallow  the  name  of  Father.  They  do  not  see 
that  it  is  a  Holy  name,  a  beautiful  and  tender  as  well  as 
an  awful  and  venerable  name.  They  think  of  fathers, 
like  too  many  among  themselves,  proud,  and  arbitrary,  sel- 
fish and  cruel.  They  say  in  their  hearts,  even  such 
fathers  as  we  are,  such  is  God.  Therefore,  they  shrink 
from  God,  and  turn  from  Him  to  idols,  to  the  Virgin 
Mary,  or  Saints,  or  any  other  beings  who  can  deliver 
them  (as  they  fancy)  out  of  the  hands  of  their  Father  in 
heaven.      If  men   once   learnt  to   hallow   the  name  of 


360  The  Lord's  Prayer. 

Father,  to  think  of  a  father  as  one  who  not  only  pos- 
sessed power  but  felt  love,  who  not  only  had  rights 
which  he  would  enforce,  and  issued  commands  which  must 
be  obeyed,  but  who  felt  yearning  sympathy  for  his  chil- 
dren's weakness,  an  active  interest  in  their  education, 
and  was  ready  to  labour  for,  to  sacrifice  himself  for,  his 
family — That  would  be  truly  to  hallow  the  name  of 
Father,  and  look  on  it  as  a  holy  thing,  whether  in  heaven 
above  or  in  earth  beneath. 

To  hallow  the  Father's  name  would  abolish  all  the 
superstition  of  the  world.  And  so  the  coming  of  the 
Father's  kingdom  would  abolish  all  the  misrule  and 
anarchy  of  the  world.  For  the  kingdom  of  God  the 
Father  is  a  kingdom  of  perfect  order,  perfect  justice, 
perfect  usefulness.  Surely  the  first  consequences  of  that 
kingdom's  coming  would  be,  that  every  one  would  be 
exactly  in  his  right  place,  and  that  every  one  would  get 
his  exact  deserts.  That  would  indeed  be  the  kingdom 
of  God  on  earth.  The  prospect  of  such  a  kingdom  would 
be  painful  enough  to  those  who  were  in  their  wrong 
place,  to  those  who  were  undeserving.  All  who  were 
useless,  taking  wages  either  from  man  or  from  God, 
without  doing  any  work  in  return,  all  these  would  have 
but  too  good  reason  to  dread  the  coming  of  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

But  those  who  were  trying  earnestl}^  to  do  their  work, 
though  amid  many  mistakes  and  failures,  why  should 
they  dread  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  Why 
should  they  shrink  from  remembering  that,  though  God's 
kingdom  is  not  come  in  perfection  and  fulness,  it  is  here 
already,  and  they  are  in  it  ?       Why  should  they  shrink 


The  Lord's  Prayer,  361 

from  that  thought  ?  They  will  find  it  full  of  comfort,  of 
strength,  and  hope,  if  they  will  hut  hallow  their 
Father's  name,  and  remember  the  fact  of  all  facts — that 
they  have  a  Father  in  heaven.  There  are  thousands  on 
earth,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  who  can  say 
honestly — to  take  the  commonest  instance — every  parent 
can  say  it — ''  I  have  a  heavy  work  to  do,  a  heavy 
responsibility  to  fulfil.  God  knows  I  did  not  seek  it, 
thrust  myself  into  it ;  it  was  thrust  upon  me.  It  came 
to  me  in  the  course  of  nature  or  of  society,  and 
circumstances  over  which  I  had  no  control.  In  one 
word  it  was  w.y  Duty.  But  now  that  I  have  my  duty 
to  do,  behold  I  cannot  do  it.  I  try  my  best,  but  I 
fail.  I  come  short  daily  of  my  own  low  standard  of 
duty.  How  much  more  of  God's  perfect  standard  of  it ! 
And  the  burden  of  responsibility,  the  regret  for  failure,  is 
more  than  I  can  bear. 

To  such  we  may  answer,  hallow  your  Father's  name, 
and  be  of  good  cheer.  Your  Father  has  given  you  your 
work.  Because  He  is  a  Father,  He  is  surely  educatiug 
you  for  your  work.  Because  He  is  a  Father,  He  will  surely 
set  you  no  task  which  you  are  unable  to  fulfil.  Because 
He  is  a  Father,  He  will  help  you  to  fulfil  your  task. 
Your  station  and  calling  is  His  will ;  and  because  it  is 
a  Father's  will  it  is  a  good  will. 

And  the  Judge  of  your  work — He  is  no  steru  task- 
master, no  unfeeling  tyrant,  but  Jesus  Christ,  your  Lord, 
who  died  for  you  on  the  Cross.  He  knows  what  is  in 
man.  He  remembereth  that  we  are  but  dust.  Else  the 
spirit  would  fail  before  Him  aud  the  souls  Avhich  He  has 
made.      He  can  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  in- 


362  The  Lord's  Praye7\ 

firmities,  seeing  that  He  was  tempted  in  all  things  like 
as  we  are,  yet  without  sin.  He  can  sympathise  utterly; 
He  can  make  all  just  allowances  ;  He  will  judge  not 
by  outward  results,  but  by  the  inward  will  and  desire. 
He  will  judge  not  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear,  nor  the  see- 
ing of  the  eye,  as  the  shallow  cruel  world  judges,  but 
He  will  judge  righteous  judgment.  Trust  your  cause  to 
Him,  and  trust  yourself  to  Him.  Believe  that  if  He  can 
sympathise.  He  can  also  help  ;  for  from  Him,  as  well  as 
from  His  Father,  proceeds  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Lord  and 
giver  of  life,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  the 
spirit  of  power  and  might,  the  spirit  of  knowledge  and 
the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  He  will  inspire  you  to  see  your 
duty,  and  do  your  duty,  and  rejoice  in  your  duty,  in 
spite  of  weariness  and  failure,  and  all  the  burdens  of  the 
flesh  and  of  the  spirit. 

"  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  If 
that  were  done,  it  would  abolish  all  the  vice  of  the 
world,  and  therefore  the  misery  which  springs  from 
vice.  Ah,  that  God's  will  were  but  done  on  earth 
as  it  is  in  the  material  heaven  overhead,  in  perfect 
order  and  obedience,  as  the  stars  roll  in  their  courses, 
without  rest,  yet  without  haste  ;  as  all  created  things, 
even  the  most  awful,  fire  and  hail,  snow  and  vapour, 
wind  and  storm,  fulfil  God's  word,  who  hath  made  them 
sure  for  ever  and  ever,  and  given  them  a  law  which 
shall  not  be  broken.  But  above  them  ;  above  the 
divine  and  wonderful  order  of  the  material  universe,  and 
the  winds  which  are  God's  angels,  and  the  flames  of  fire 
which  are  His  messengers  ;  above  all,  the  prophets  and 
apostles  have  caught  sight  of  another  divine  and  wonder- 


The  Lord's  Prayer.  363 

fill  order  of  rational  beings,  of  races,  loftier  and  purer 
than  man — angels  and  archangels,  thrones  and  dominions, 
principalities  and  powers,  fulfilling  God's  will  in  heaven 
as  it  is  not  alas  !  fulfilled  on  earth. 

And  beside  them,  beside  the  innumerable  company  of 
angels,  are  there  not  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect, freed  from  the  fetters  of  the  gross  animal  body,  and 
now  somewhere  in  that  boundless  universe  in  which 
this  earth  is  but  a  tiny  speck,  doing  God's  will,  as  they 
longed  to  do  it  on  earth,  with  clearer  light,  fuller  faith, 
deeper  love,  mightier  powers  of  usefulness  ?  Ah,  that 
we  were  like  to  them  !  Ah,  that  we  could  perform  the 
least  part  of  our  day's  work  on  earth  as  it  is  performed  by 
saints  and  angels  for  ever  in  heaven  1  When  we  think 
of  what  this  poor  confused  world  is,  and  then  what  it 
might  be,  were  God's  will  done  therein  as  it  is  done  in 
heaven  ;  what  it  might  be  if  even  the  little  of  God's 
will  which  we  already  know,  the  little  of  God's  laws 
which  are  proved  already  to  be  certain,  were  carried  out 
with  any  earnestness  by  the  majority  of  mankind,  or 
even  of  one  civilized  nation — when  we  think — to  take 
the  very  lowest  ground — of  the  health  and  wealth,  the 
peace  and  happiness,  which  would  cover  this  earth  did 
men  only  do  the  will  of  God  ;  then,  if  we  have  human 
hearts  within  us — if  we  care  at  all  for  the  welfare  of  our 
fellow-men — ought  not  this  to  be  the  prayer  of  all  our 
prayers,  and  ought  we  not  to  welcome  any  event,  how- 
ever awful,  which  would  bring  mankind  to  reason  and  to 
virtue,  and  to  God,  and  abolish  the  sin  and  misery  of 
this  unhappy  world  ? 

To  abolish  the  superstition,  the  misrule,  the  vice,  the 


364  The  Lord's  Prayer, 

misery  of  this  world.  That  is  what  Christ  will  do  in  the 
day  when  He  has  put  all  enemies  under  His  feet.  That 
is  what  Christ  has  been  doing,  step  by  step,  ever  since 
that  day  when  first  He  came  to  do  His  Father's  will  on 
earth  in  great  humility.  Therefore,  that  is  what  we 
must  do,  each  in  our  place  and  station,  if  we  be  indeed 
His  subjects,  fellow- workers  with  Him  in  the  improve- 
ment of  the  human  race,  fellow-soldiers  with  Him  in  the 
battle  against  evil. 

But  what  we  wish  to  do  for  our  fellow-creatures,  we 
must  do  first  for  ourselves.  We  can  give  them  nothing 
save  what  God  has  already  given  us.  We  must  become 
good  before  we  can  make  them  good,  and  wise  before  we 
can  make  them  wise.  Let  us  pray,  then,  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  Let  us  pray  that  we  may 
hallow  the  name  of  God,  our  Father.  Let  us  pray  that 
His  kingdom  may  come  in  our  own  hearts.  Let  us 
pray  that  we  may  do  His  will  on  earth  as  those  whom 
we  love  and  honour  do  it  in  heaven.  Let  us  keep  that 
before  us,  day  and  night,  as  the  aim  and  purpose  of  our 
lives.  Let  us  pray  for  forgiveness  of  our  failures  in  that ; 
for  help  to  do  that  better  as  our  years  run  on.  So  we 
shall  be  ready  for  the  day  in  which  Christ  shall  have 
accomplished  the  number  of  His  elect,  and  hastened  His 
kingdom.  So  we  shall  be  found  in  that  dread  day,  not 
on  the  side  of  evil,  but  of  God  ;  not  on  the  side  of 
darkness,  anarchy,  and  vice,  but  on  the  side  of  light,  of 
justice,  and  of  virtue,  which  is  the  side  of  Christ  and  of 
God.  And  so  we,  with  all  those  that  are  departed  in 
the  faith  of  His  holy  name,  shall  have  our  perfect  con- 
Bummation  and  bliss  in  His  eternal  and  everlasting  glory, 
to  which  may  He,  of  His  great  mercy,  bring  us  all.    Amen. 


SERMON  XXXIX. 

THE    DISTRACTED    MIND. 

Everdey.     1871. 

Matthew  vi.  34. 

"Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow,  for  the  morrow  shall  take  thought 
for  the  things  of  itself.      Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof." 

ScHOLAiis  will  tell  you  that  the  words  ''take  no 
thought "  do  not  exactly  express  our  Lord's  meaning 
in  this  text.  That  they  should  rather  stand,  ''  Be  not 
anxious  about  to-morrow."  And  doubtless  they  are 
right  on  the  whole.  But  the  truth  is,  that  we  have  no 
word  in  English  which  exactly  expresses  the  Greek  word 
which  St  Matthew  uses  in  his  gospel,  and  which  we  are 
bound  to  believe  exactly  expresses  our  Lord's  meaning, 
in  whatever  language  He  spoke.  The  nearest  English 
word,  I  believe,  is — distracted.  Be  ye  not  distracted 
about  to-morrow.  I  do  not  mean  the  vulgar  sense  of 
the  word — which  is  losing  one's  senses.  But  the  old 
and  true  sense,  which  is  still  used  by  those  who  speak 
good  English. 

To  distract,  means  literally  to  pull  a  thing  two 
different  ways — even  to  pull  it  asunder.  We  speak  of 
distracting  a  man's  attention,  when  we  call  him  off  from 
looking  at  one  thing  to  make   him  look  at  something 


366  The  Distracted  Mind. 

else,  and  we  call  anything  which  interrupts  us  in  our 
bvisiness,  or  puts  a  thought  suddenly  out  of  our  heads, 
a  distraction.  Now  the  Greek  word  which  St  Matthew 
uses,  means  very  nearly  this — Be  not  divided  in  your 
thoughts — do  not  think  of  two  thiDgs  at  once — do  not 
distract  your  attention  from  to-day's  work,  by  fearing  and 
hoping  about  to-morrow.  Sufficient  for  the  day  is  the 
evil  thereof;  and  you  will  have  quite  trouble  enough  to 
get  through  to-day  honestly  and  well,  without  troubling 
yourself  with  to-morrow — which  may  turn  out  very 
unlike  anything  which  you  can  dream.  This,  I  think, 
is  the  true  meaning  of  the  text ;  and  with  it,  I  think, 
agrees  another  word  of  our  Lord's  which  St  Luke  gives 
■ — And  be  ye  not  of  doubtful  mind.  Literally,  Do  not 
be  up  in  the  air — blown  helpless  hither  and  thither, 
by  every  gust  of  wind,  instead  of  keeping  on  the  firm 
ground,  and  walking  straight  on  about  your  business, 
stoutly  and  patiently,  step  after  step.  Have  no  vain 
fears  or  vain  hopes  about  the  future  ;  but  do  your  duty 
here  and  now.  That  is  our  Lord's  command,  and  in  it 
lies  the  secret  of  success  in  life. 

For  do  we  not  find,  do  we  not  find,  my  friends,  in 
practice,  that  our  Lord's  words  are  true  ?  Who  are 
the  people  who  get  through  most  work  in  their 
lives,  with  the  least  wear  and  tear,  not  merely  to 
their  bodily  health,  but  to  their  tempers  and  their 
characters  ?  Are  they  the  anxious  people  ?  Those  who 
imagine  to  themselves  possible  misfortunes,  and  ask 
continually — What  if  this  happened — or  that  ?  What 
would  become  of  me  then  ?  How  should  I  be  able  to 
pull    through    such    a    trouble?      Where    shall    I    find 


The  Dist7' acted  Mind.  367 

friends  ?  How  shall  I  make  myself  safe  against  the 
chances  and  changes  of  life  ?  Do  we  not  know  that 
those  people  are  the  very  ones  who  do  little  work,  and 
often  less  than  none,  by  thus  distracting  their  attention 
and  their  strength  from  their  daily  duty,  daily  business  ? 
That  while  they  are  looking  anxiously  for  future  oppor- 
tunities, they  are  neglecting  the  opportunities  which 
they  have  already.  While  they  are  making  interest 
with  others  to  help  them,  they  forget  to  help  themselves. 
That  in  proportion  as  they  lose  faith  in  God  and  His 
goodness,  they  lose  courage  and  lose  cheerfulness ;  and 
have  too  often  to  find  a  false  courage  and  a  false  cheer- 
fulness, by  drowning  their  cares  in  drink,  or  in  mean 
cunning  and  plotting  and  planning,  which  usually  ends 
in  failure  and  in  shame  ? 

Are  those  who  do  most  work,  either  the  plotting  or 
intriguing  people  ?  I  do  not  mean  base  false  people. 
Of  them  1  do  not  speak  here.  But  really  good  and  kind 
people,  honest  at  heart,  who  yet  are  full  of  distractions 
of  another  sort ;  who  are  of  double  mind — look  two 
ways  at  once,  and  are  afraid  to  be  quite  open,  quite 
straightforward — who  like  to  comjxtss  their  ends,  as 
the  old  saying  is,  that  is  to  go  round  about,  towards 
what  they  want,  instead  of  going  boldly  up  to  it  ;  who 
like  to  try  two  or  more  ways  of  getting  the  same 
thing  done  ;  and,  as  the  proverb  has  it,  have  many  irons 
in  the  fire  ;  who  love  little  schemes,  and  plots,  and 
mysteries,  even  when  there  is  no  need  for  them.  Do 
such  people  get  most  work  done  ?  Far,  far  from  it. 
They  take  more  trouble  about  getting  a  little  matter 
done,  than  simpler  and  braver  men  take  about  getting 


368  The  Distracted  Mind. 

great  matters  done.  They  fret  themselves,  they  weary 
themselves,  they  waste  their  brains  and  hearts — and 
sometimes  their  honesty  besides — and  if  they  fail,  as 
in  the  chances  and  changes  of  this  mortal  life  they  must 
too  often  fail,  have  nothing  for  all  their  schemings  save 
vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit. 

But  the  man  who  will  get  most  work  done,  and  done 
with  the  least  trouble,  whether  for  himself,  for  his 
family,  or  in  the  calling  and  duty  to  which  God  has 
called  him,  will  be  the  man  who  takes  our  Lord's  advice. 
AVho  takes  no  thought  for  the  morrow,  and  leaves  the 
morrow  to  take  thought  for  itself  That  man  will 
believe  that  tliis  world  is  a  well-ordered  world,  as  it 
needs  must  be,  seeing  that  God  made  it,  God  redeemed 
it,  God  governs  it  ;  and  that  God  is  merciful  in  this — 
that  He  rewardcth  every  man  according  to  his  vv^orks. 
That  man  will  take  thought  for  to-day,  earnestly  and 
diligently,  even  at  times  anxiously  and  in  fear  and 
tiembling ;  but  he  will  not  distract,  and  divide,  and 
weaken  his  mind  by  taking  thought  for  to-morrow  also. 
Each  day  he  Avill  set  about  the  duty  which  lies  nearest 
him,  with  a  whole  heart  and  with  a  siiigie  eye,  giving 
himself  to  it  for  the  time,  as  if  there  was  nothing  else 
to  be  done  in  the  world.  As  for  what  he  is  to  do  next, 
he  will  think  little  of  that.  Little,  even,  will  he  think 
of  whether  his  work  will  succeed  or  not.  That  must  be 
as  God  shall  will.  All  that  he  is  bound  to  do  is  to  do 
his  best ;  and  his  best  he  can  only  do  by  throwing  his 
whole  soul  into  his  work.  As  his  day,  he  trusts  his 
strength  will  be  ;  and  he  must  not  waste  the  strength 
which  God  has  given  him  for  to-day  on  vain  fears  or  vain 


The  Distracted  Mind.  369 

dreams  about  to-morrow.  To-day  is  quite  full  enough 
of  auxiety,  of  care,  of  toil,  of  ignorance.  Sufficient  for 
the  day  is  the  evil  thereof.  Yes ;  and  sufficient  for  the 
day  is  the  good  thereof  likewise.  To-day,  and  to-morrow, 
too,  may  end  very  differently  from  what  he  hoped.  Yes  ; 
but  they  may  end,  too,  very  diffisrently  from  what  he 
feared.  Let  him  throw  his  whole  soul  into  the  thing 
which  he  is  about,  and  leave  the  rest  to  God. 

For  so  only  will  he  come  to  the  day's  end  in  that 
wholesome  and  manful  temper,  contented  if  not  cheerful, 
satisfied  with  the  work  he  has  had  to  do,  if  not  satisfied 
with  the  way  in  which  he  has  done  it,  which  will  leave 
his  mind  free  to  remember  all  his  comforts,  all  his 
blessings,  even  to  those  commonest  of  all  blessings, 
which  we  are  all  too  apt  to  forget,  just  because  they 
are  as  necessary  as  the  air  we  breathe ;  which  will  show 
him  how  much  light  there  is,  even  on  the  darkest  day. 

He  has  not  got  this  or  that  fine  thing,  it  may  be,  for 
which  he  longed  :  but  he  has  at  least  his  life,  at  least 
his  reason,  at  least  his  conscience,  at  least  his  God. 
Are  not  they  enough  to  possess  ?  Are  not  they  enough 
wherewith  to  lie  down  at  night  in  peace,  and  rise 
to-morrow  to  take  what  comes  to-morrow,  even  as  he 
took  what  came  to-day  ?  And  wall  he  not  be  most  fit 
to  take  what  comes  to-morrow  like  a  Cliristian  man, 
whether  it  be  good  or  evil,  with  his  spirit  braced  and 
yet  chastened,  by  honest  and  patient  labour,  instead  of 
being  weakened  and  irritated  by  idling  over  to-day, 
while  he  dreamed  and  fretted  about  to-morrow  ? 

Ah  !  I  fancy  that  I  hear  some  one  say — perhaps  a 
woman — ''  So  easy  to  preach,  but  so  difficult  to  practise. 

'i  A 


3  70  T^^i^  Disti^aded  Mind. 

So  difficult  to  think  of  one  thing  at  a  time.  So  diffi- 
cult not  to  plot,  not  to  fret,  with  a  whole  family  of 
children  dependent  on  you  !  What  does  the  preacher 
know  of  a  woman's  troubles  ?  How  many  thiDgs  she 
has  to  think  of,  day  by  day,  not  one  of  which  she  dares 
forget — and  yet  can  seldom  or  never,  for  all  her  recol- 
lecting, contrive  to  get  them  all  done  ?  How  can  she  help 
being  distracted  by  the  thought  of  to-morrow  ?  Can  he 
feel  for  frail  me  ?  Does  he  know  what  I  go  through  ?" 
Yes.  I  do  know;  and  I  wonder,  and  admire.  To 
me  the  sight  of  any  poor  woman  managing  her 
family  respectably  and  thriftily,  is  one  of  the  most 
surprising  sights  on  earth,  as  it  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  sights  on  earth.  How  she  finds  time  for  it, 
wit  for  it,  patience  for  it,  courage  for  it,  I  cannot  con- 
ceive. I  have  wondered  often  Avhy  many  a  woman  does 
not  lie  down  and  die,  for  sheer  weariness  of  body  and 
soul.  I  have  fancied  often  that  God  must  give  some 
special  grace  to  all  good  mothers,  to  enable  them  to  do 
all  that  they  do,  and  bear  all  they  bear.  But  still,  the 
women  who  do  most,  who  bring  up  their  families  best, 
are  surely  those  who  obey  their  Lord's  command,  who  give 
their  wliole  souls  to  each  day's  work,  and  think  as  little 
as  they  can  of  to-morrow.  With  them,  surely,  the  true 
wisdom  is,  not  to  fret,  not  to  plot,  to  do  the  duty 
which  lies  nearest  them,  and  leave  the  rest  to  God ;  to 
get  each  week's  bill  paid,  trusting  to  God  to  send  money 
for  the  week  to  come  ;  to  get  their  children  every  day 
to  school  ;  to  correct  in  them  each  fault  as  it  shews 
itself,  without  looking  forward  too  much  to  how  the 
child  ivill  turn  out  at  last.      For  them,  and  for  parents 


The  Distracted  Mind.  3  7 1 

of  all  ranks,  the  wisest  plan,  I  bolieve,  is  to  make  no 
far-fetched  plans  for  their  children's  future,  certainly  no 
ambitious  intrigues  for  their  marriage  :  but  simply  to 
educate  them — that  is,  to  bring  out  in  them,  day  by 
day,  all  that  is  purest  and  best,  wisest  and  ablest,  and 
leave  the  rest  to  God  ;  sure  that  if  they  are  worth  any- 
thing, their  Father  in  heaven  will  find  them  work  to  do, 
and  a  place  at  His  table,  in  this  life  and  in  the  life  to  come. 

Yes,  my  dear  friends,  this  is  the  true  philosophy,  the 
philosophy  which  Christ  preaches  to  us  all — to  old  and 
young,  rich  and  poor,  ploughman  and  scholar,  maid, 
wife,  and  widow,  all  alike. 

Fret  not.      Plot  not.      Look  not  too  far  ahead. 

Fret  not — lest  you  lose  temper,  and  be  moved  to  do 
evil.  Plot  not — lest  you  lose  faith  in  God,  and  be 
moved  to  be  dishonest.  Look  not  too  far  ahead — So 
far  only,  as  to  keep  yourselves  out  of  open  and  certain 
danger — lest  you  see  what  is  coming  before  you  are 
ready  for  the  sight.  If  we  foresaw  the  troubles  which 
may  be  coming,  perhaps  it  would  break  our  hearts ; 
and  if  we  foresaw  the  happiness  which  is  coming,  per- 
haps it  would  turn  our  heads.  Let  us  not  meddle 
with  the  future,  and  matters  which  are  too  high  for 
us,  but  refrain  our  souls,  and  keep  them  low,  like  little 
children,  content  with  the  day's  food,  and  the  day's 
schooling,  and  the  day's  play-hours,  sure  that  the 
Divine  Master  knows  that  all  is  right,  and  how  to 
train  us,  and  whither  to  lead  us,  though  we  know  not, 
and  need  not  know,  save  this — tliat  the  path  by  which 
He  is  leading  each  of  us — if  we  will  but  obey  and  follow, 
step  by  step — leads  up  to  Everlasting  Life. 


SERMON    XL. 

THE     LESSON     OF     LIFE. 

.  Fifth  Sunday  in  Lent. 

Chester  Training  College,  1870.    Windsor  Casile,  1871. 

Hebrews  v.  7,  8. 

**  Who  in  tlie  days  of  His  flesh,  when  He  had  offered  up  prayers 
and  supplications  Avith  strong  crying  and  tears,  unto  Him  that  was 
able  to  save  Him  from  death,  and  was  heard  in  that  He  feared  ; 
though  He  were  a  Son,  yet  learned  He  obedience  by  the  things  which 
He  suffered." 

This  is  the  lesson  of  life.  This  is  God's  way  of  educat- 
ing us,  of  making  us  men  and  women  worthy  of  the 
name  of  men  and  women,  worthy  of  the  name  of  children 
of  God.  As  Christ  learnt,  so  must  we.  If  it  was  neces- 
sary for  Him  who  knew  no  sin,  how  much  more  for  us 
who  have  sins  enough  and  to  spare.  Though  He  was 
the  eternal  Son  of  God,  yet  He  learnt  obedience  by  the 
things  which  He  suffered.  Though  we  are  God's  adopted 
children,  we  must  learn  obedience  by  what  we  suffer.  He 
had  to  offer  up  prayer  with  strong  crying.  So  shall  we 
have  to  do  again  and  again  before  we  die.  He  was 
heard  in  that  He  feared  God,  and  said,  ''  Father  not  my 
will,  but  Thine  be  done."  And  so  ^hall  we.  He  was 
perfected  by  sufferings.  God  grant  that  we  may  be  so 
likewise.  He  had  to  do  like  us.  God  grant  that  we  may 
do  like  Him. 

God  grant  it.      That  is  all  I  can  say.      I   cannot  be 


The  L  ess  on  of  L  ife.  373 

sure  of  it,  for  myself  or  for  any  of  you.  I  can  only 
hope,  and  trust  in  God.  Life  is  bard  work — any 
life  at  least  which  is  worth  being  called  life,  which  is 
not  the  life  of  a  swine,  who  thinks  of  nothing  but  feed- 
inof  himself,  or  of  a  butterfly  which  thinks  of  nothincf  but 
enjoying  itself.  Those  are  easy  lives  enough  :  but  the  end 
thereof  is  death.  The  swine  goes  to  the  slaughter.  The 
butterfly  dies  of  the  frost — and  there  is  an  end  of  them. 
But  the  manly  life,  the  life  of  good  deeds  and  noble 
'thoughts,  and  usefulness,  and  purity,  the  life  which  is 
discontented  with  itself,  and  which  the  better  it  is,  lonsrs 
the  more  to  be  better  still  ;  the  life  which  will  endure 
through  this  world  into  the  world,  to  come,  and  on  and 
upward  for  ever  and  for  ever. — That  life  is  not  an  easy 
life  to  live  ;  it  is  very  often  not  a  pleasant  life ;  very 
often  a  sad  life — so  sad  that  that  is  true  of  it  which  the 
great  poet  says — 

"  Who  ne'er  his  bread  in  sorrow  ate, 
"Who  never  in  the  midnight  hours 
Sat  weeping  on  his  lonely  bed, 
He  knows  you  not,  you  Heavenly  Powers." 

You  may  say  this  is  bad  news.  I  do  not  believe  it 
is.  I  believe  it  is  good  news,  and  the  very  best  of  news: 
but  if  it  is  bad  news,  I  cannot  help  it.  I  did  not  make 
it  so.  God  made  it  so.  And  God  must  know  best.  God 
is  love.  And  we  are  His  children,  and  He  loves  us.  And 
therefore  His  ways  with  us  must  be  good  and  loving 
ways,  and  any  news  about  them  must  be  good  news,  and 
a  gospel,  though  we  caimot  see  it  so  at  first. 

In  any  case,  if  it  is  so,  it  is  better  to  remember  that 
it  is  so.    And  Lent,  and  Passion  Week,  and  Good  Friday 


374  ^-^^^  ^  esson  of  L  ife. 

are  meant  to  put  us  in  mind  of  it  year  by  year,  becar.se 
we  are  all  of  us  only  too  ready  to  forget  it,  and  shut 
our  eyes  to  it.  Lent  and  Passion  Week,  I  say,  are 
meant  to  put  us  in  mind.  And  the  preacher  is  bound 
to  put  you  in  mind  of  it  now  and  then.  He  is  bound, 
not  too  often  perhaps,  lest  he  should  discourage  young 
hearts,  but  now  and  then,  to  put  you  in  mind  of  the 
old  Greek  proverb,  the  very  words  of  which  St.  Paul 
uses  in  the  text,  that  rk  ira^Y^iiara  ixa6r,iJ.aTa — sorrows  are 
lessons  ;  and  that  the  most  truly  pitiable  people  often 
are  those  who  have  no  sorrows,  and  ask  for  no  man's 
pity. 

For  so  it  is.  The  very  worst  calamity,  I  should  say, 
which  could  befall  any  human  being  would  be  this — To 
have  his  own  way  from  his  cradle  to  his  grave  ;  to  have 
everything  he  liked  for  the  asking,  or  even  for  the  buy- 
ing ;  never  to  be  forced  to  say,  "  I  should  like  that  :  but 
I  cannot  afford  it.  I  should  like  this  :  but  I  must  not 
do  it " — Never  to  deny  himself,  never  to  exert  himself, 
never  to  work,  and  never  to  want.  That  man's  soul 
would  be  in  as  great  danger  as  if  he  were  committing 
great  crimes.  Indeed,  he  would  very  probably  before 
he  died  commit  great  crimes — like  certain  negroes 
whom  I  have  seen  abroad,  who  live  a  life  of  such  lazy 
comfort  and  safety,  and  superabundance  of  food,  that 
tliey  are  beginning  more  and  more  to  live  the  life  of  ani- 
mals rather  than  men.  They  are  like  those  of  whom  the 
Psalmist  says,  ''  Their  eyes  swell  out  with  fatness,  and 
they  do  even  what  they  lust."  So  do  they,  and  indulge 
in  gross  vices,  which,  if  not  checked  in  some  way,  will 
end  in  destroying  them  off  the  face  of  the  earth  in  a  few 


The  L esson  of  Life.  375 

generations  more.  I  had  rather,  for  the  sake  of  my  charac- 
ter, my  manhood,  my  immortal  sonl,  I  had  rather,  T  say, 
a  hundred  times  over,  be  an  English  labourer,  struggling 
on  on  twelve  shillings  a  week,  and  learning  obedience, 
self-denial,  self-respect,  and  trust  in  God,  by  the  things 
suffered  in  that  hard  life  here  at  home,  than  be  a  Negro 
in  Tropic  islands,  fattening  himself  in  sloth  under  that 
perpetual  sunshine,  and  thinking  nought  of  God,  because, 
poor  fool,  he  can  get  all  he  wants  without  God's  help. 

No,  my  dear  young  friends,  this  is  good  for  a  man. 
It  is  necessary  for  a  man,  if  he  is  to  be  a  man  and  a 
child  of  God,  and  not  a  mere  animal,  to  have  to  work 
hard  whether  he  likes  or  not.  It  is  good  for  a  man  to 
bear  the  yoke  in  his  youth,  as  Jeremiah  told  the  Jews, 
when,  because  they  would  not  bear  God's  light  yoke  in 
their  youth,  but  ran  riot  into  luxury  and  wantonness,  and 
superstition  and  idolatry  which  come  thereof,  they  had  to 
bear  the  heavy  yoke  of  the  Babylonish  captivity  in  their 
old  age.  It  is  good  for  a  man  to  be  checked,  crossed, 
disappointed,  made  to  feel  his  own  ignorance,  weakness, 
folly ;  made  to  feel  his  need  of  God ;  to  feel  that,  in  spite 
of  all  his  cunning  and  self-confidence,  he  is  no  better  off 
in  this  world  than  a  lost  child  in  a  dark  forest,  unless 
he  has  a  Father  in  Heaven,  who  loves  him  with  an 
eternal  love  ;  and  a  Holy  Spirit  in  Heaven,  who  will 
give  him  a  right  judgment  in  all  things  ;  who  will  put 
into  his  mind  good  desires,  and  enable  him  to  bring  those 
desires  to  good  effect ;  and  a  Saviour  in  Heaven  who  can 
be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  his  infirmities,  because 
He  too  was  made  perfect  by  sufferings  ;  He  too  was 
tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  yet  without  sin. 


^i"]^  The  L esson  of  L ife. 

And,  therefore,  my  dear  friends,  those  words  which 
we  read  in  the  Visitation  of  the  Sick  about  this  matter 
are  not  mere  kind  words,  meant  to  give  comfort  for  the 
moment.  They  are  truth  and  fact  and  sound  philo- 
sophy. They  are  as  true  for  the  young  lad  in  health 
and  spirits  as  for  the  old  folk  crawling  towards  their 
graves.  It  is  true,  and  you  will  find  it  true,  that  sickness 
and  all  sorts  of  troubles,  are  sent  to  correct  and  amend 
in  us  whatever  doth  offend  the  eyes  of  our  Heavenly 
Father.  It  is  true,  and  you  will  find  it  true,  that  whom 
the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth  every  son 
whom  He  receiveth.  It  is  true,  and  you  will  find  it 
true  (though  God  knows  it  is  a  difficult  lesson  enough  to 
learn),  that  there  should  be  no  greater  comfort  to  Chris- 
tian persons,  than  to  be  made  like  Christ,  by  suffering 
patiently  not  only  the  hard  work  of  every-day  life,  but 
adversities,  troubles,  and  sicknesses,  and  our  Heavenly 
Father's  correction,  whensoever,  by  any  manner  of  adver- 
sity, it  shall  please  His  gracious  goodness  to  visit  them. 
For  Christ  Himself  went  not  up  to  joy,  but  first  He 
suffered  pain  ;  He  entered  not  into  His  glory,  before  He 
was  crucified. 

So  truly  our  way  to  eternal  joy  is  to  labour  and  to 
suffer  here  with  Christ.  It  is  true,  and  you  will  find  it 
true,  when  years  hence  you  look  back,  as  I  trust  you  all 
will,  calmly  and  intelligently,  on  the  events  of  your  own 
lives — you  will  find,  I  say,  that  the  very  events  in 
your  lives  which  seemed  at  the  time  most  trying,  most 
vexing,  most  disastrous,  have  been  those  which  were 
most  necessary  for  you,  to  call  out  what  was  good  in  you, 
and  to  purge   out   what  was  bad  ;   that  by  those  very 


The  L  ess  on  of  Life.  Zll 

troubles  your  Lord,  who  knows  the  value  of  suffering,  be- 
cause He  has  suffered  Himself,  was  making  true  men,  true 
women  of  you  ;  hardening  your  heads,  while  He  softened 
your  hearts  ;  teaching  vou  to  obev  Him,  while  He  taught 
you  not  to  obey  your  own  fancies  and  your  own  passions  ; 
refining  and  tempering  your  characters  in  the  furnace  of 
trial,  as  the  smith  refines  soft  iron  into  trusty  steel ; 
teaching  you,  as  the  great  poet  says — 

'•  That  life  is  not  as  idle  ore, 
But  heated  hot  with  burning  fears, 
And  bathed  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 

And  battered  with  the  strokes  of  doom, 

To  shape  and  use." 

Yes,  you  will  learn  that,  and  more  than  that,  and  say  in 
peace — "Before  I  was  troubled  I  went  wrong,  but  now 
have  I  kept  thy  commandments."  And  to  such  an  old 
age  may  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  bring  you  and  me  and 
all  we  love.      Amen. 


SERMON  XLI. 

SACRIFICE  TO  CiESAR  OR  TO  GOD. 

Eversley,  1869.     Chester  Cathedral,  1872. 

Matthew  xxii.  21. 

*'  Render  therefore  unto  Coesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's  ; 
and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's." 

Many  a  sermon  has  been  preached,  and  many  a  pam- 
phlet written,  on  this  text,  and  (as  too  often  has  hap- 
pened to  Holy  Scripture),  it  has  been  made  to  mean  the 
most  opposite  doctrines,  and  twisted  in  every  direction, 
to  suit  men's  opinions  and  superstitions.  Some  have 
found  in  it  a  command  to  obey  tyrants,  invaders,  any 
aud  every  government,  just  or  unjust.  Others  have 
found  in  it  rules  for  drawing  a  line  between  the  authority 
of  the  State  and  of  the  Church,  i.e.,  between  what  the 
Government  have  a  right  to  command,  and  what  the 
Clergy  have  a  right  to  demand  ;  and  many  more  matters 
have  they  fancied  that  they  discovered  in  the  text  which 
I  do  not  believe  are  in  it  at  all. 

For  to  understand  the  original  question — Is  it  lawful  to 
pay  tribute  to  Caesar  or  no  ?  we  must  imagine  to  ourselves 
a  state  of  things  in  Judea  utterly  different,  thank  God, 
from  anything  which  has  been  in  these  realms  for  now  eight 
hundred  years.  The  Csesar,  or  Emperor  of  Eome,  had  ob- 
tained by  conquest  an  authority  over  the  Jews  very  like 


Sacrifice  to  Ccesar  or  to  God.  379 

thaf  which  we  have  over  the  Hindoos  in  India.  And 
what  was  working  in  the  mind  of  the  Jews  was  very  like 
that  which  was  working  in  the  minds  of  the  Hindoos  in 
the  Sepoy  Rebellion — whether  it  was  not  a  sacred  and 
religious  duty  to  rise  against  their  conquerors  and  drive 
them  out.  We  know  from  the  New  Testament  that 
both  our  Lord  and  His  apostles  again  and  again  warned 
them  not  to  rebel,  warned  them  that  they  would  not 
succeed  :  but  ruin  themselves  thereby;  for  that  those 
w^ho  took  the  sword  would  perish  by  the  sword.  And 
we  know,  too,  that  the  Jews  would  not  take  our  Lord's 
advice,  nor  the  apostles',  but  did  rise  again  and  again, 
both  in  Judea  and  elsewhere,  gallantly  and  desperately 
enough,  poor  creatures,  in  mad  useless  rebellion,  till  the 
Romans  all  but  destroyed  them  off  the  face  of  the  earth. 

But  what  has  that  to  do  with  us,  free  self-governed 
Englishmen,  in  this  peaceful  and  prosperous  land  ?  In 
the  early  middle  age,  when  the  clergy  represented  and 
defended  Roman  pure  Christianity  and  civilization  against 
the  half-heathen  and  half- barbaric  Teutons  who  had  con- 
quered the  Roman  Empire,  then  doubtless  the  text  be- 
came once  more  full  of  meaning,  and  the  clergy  had  again 
and  again  to  defend  the  things  which  belonged  to  God 
against  the  rapacity  or  the  wilfulness  of  many  a  bar- 
baric Csesar.  But  what  has  that,  again,  to  do  with  us  ? 
Those  who  apply  the  text  to  any  questions  which  can  at 
present  arise  between  the  Church  and  the  State,  mistake 
alike,  it  seems  to  me,  the  nature  and  functions  of  an 
Established  Church,  and  the  nature  and  functions  of  a 
free  Government. 

Do   I    mean,  then,  that   the   text   has  nothing]:  to  do 


o 


80  Sacrifice  to  CcEsar  or  to  God. 


witli  us  ?  God  forbid  !  I  believe  that  every  word  of 
our  Lord's  has  to  do  with  us,  and  with  every  human 
beinsj,  for  their  meanino:  is  infinite,  eternal,  and  inex- 
haustible.  And  what  the  latter  half  of  the  text  has  to 
do  with  us,  I  will  try  to  show  you,  while  I  tell  you 
openly,  that  tlie  first  half  of  it,  about  rendering  to 
Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's,  has  nothing  to  do 
Avith  us,  and  never  need,  save  through  our  own  cowardice 
and  etfeminac}^,  or  folly. 

We  have  no  Caesar  over  us  in  free  England,  and  shall 
not  have,  while  Queen  Victoria,  and  her  children  after 
her  reign  ;  but  if  ever  one,  or  many  (which  God  forbid  !), 
should  arise  and  try  to  set  themselves  up  as  despots  over 
us,  I  trust  we  shall  know  how  to  render  them  their  due, 
be  they  native  or  foreigner,  in  the  same  coin  in  which 
our  forefathers  have  always  paid  tyrants  and  invaders. 
No.  The  only  Caesar  which  we  have  to  fear — and  he 
is  a  tyrant  who  seems  ready,  nowadays,  to  oppose  and 
exalt  himself  above  all  that  is  called  God,  or  is  wor- 
shipped,— patronizing,  of  course,  Religion,  as  a  harmless 
sanction  for  order  and  respectability,  but  dictating 
morality,  while  telling  us  all  day  long,  with  a  thousand 
voices  and  a  thousand  pens — ''  Right  is  not  the  eter- 
nal law  of  God.  Whatever  profits  me,  whatever  I 
like,  whatever  1  vote — that  and  that  alone  is  right, 
and  you  must  do  it  at  your  peril."  Do  you  know 
who  that  Caesar  is,  my  friends  ?  He  is  called  Public 
Opinion — the  huge  anonymous  idol  which  we  ourselves 
help  to  make,  and  then  tremble  before  the  creation 
of  our  own  cowardice ;  whereas,  if  w^e  will  but  face  him, 
in  the  fear  of  God  and  the  faith  of  Christ,  determined 


Sacrifice  to  Ccestw  or  to  God.  381 

to  say  the  thing  which  is  true,  and  do  the  thing  which 
is  right,  we  shall  find  the  naodern  Caesar  but  a  phan- 
tom of  our  own  imagination ;  a  tyrant,  indeed,  as  long  as 
he  is  feared,  but  a  coward  as  soon  as  he  is  defied. 

To  that  Ca3sar  let  us  never  bow  the  knee.  Render 
to  him  all  that  he  deserves — the  homage  of  common 
courtesy,  common  respectability,  common  charity — not 
in  reverence  for  his  wisdom  and  strength,  but  in  pity 
for  his  ignorance  and  weakness.  But  render  always 
to  God  the  'things  which  are  God's.  That  duty,  my 
good  friends,  lies  on  us,  as  on  all  mankind  still,  from 
our  cradle  to  our  grave,  and  after  that  through  all 
eternit}'-.  Let  us  go  back,  or  ratlier,  let  us  go  home 
to  the  eternal  laws  of  God,  which  were,  ages  before 
we  were  born,  and  will  be,  ages  after  we  are  dead 
— to  the  everlasting  Rock  on  which  we  all  stand,  which 
is  the  will  and  mind  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  the 
Son  of  God,  to  whom  all  power  is  given  (as  He  said 
Himself)  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  And  we  have  need 
to  do  so,  for  in  such  times  of  change  as  those  are,  there 
will  always  be  too  many  who  fancy  that  changes  in  society 
and  government  change  their  duty  about  religion,  and  are, 
some  of  them,  sorely  puzzled  as  to  their  duty  to  God ; 
and  others  ready  to  take  advantage  of  the  change  to 
throw  off  their  duty  to  God,  and  run  into  licence  and 
schism  and  fanaticism. 

Now  let  all  people  clearly  understand,  and  settle  it 
in  their  hearts,  that  no  change  in  Church  or  in  State 
can  change  in  the  least  their  duty  to  God  and  to 
man.  If  the  world  were  turned  upside  down,  God  would 
still  be  where   He  is,   and  we   where  we  are — in  His 


382  Samfice  to  Ccesar  or  to  God. 

presence.  Eight  would  still  be  right,  my  friends,  and 
wrong  wrong,  though  all  the  loud  voices  in  the  world 
shouted  that  wrong  is  right  and  right  wrong.  No  change 
of  time,  place,  society,  government,  circumstance  of  any 
kind,  can  alter  our  duty  to  God,  and  our  power  of  doing 
that  duty.  Whatever  the  Caesar  of  the  hour  may  re- 
quire us  to  render  to  him,  what  we  are  bound  to  render 
to  God  remains  the  same.  The  two  things  are  diffe- 
rent in  hind,  so  different,  that  they  never  need  interfere 
with  each  other. 

Even  if,  which  God  forbid,  the  connection  between 
Church  and  State  were  dissolved  ;  even  if,  which  God 
forbid,  the  Church  of  England  were  destroyed  for  a 
while — if  all  Churches  were  destroyed — yea,  if  not  a 
place  of  worship  were  left  for  a  while  in  this  or  any 
other  land  ;  yet  even  then,  I  say,  we  could  still  render 
to  God  the  things  which  are  God's,  and  offer  to  Him 
spiritual  sacrifices,  more  pleasing  to  Him  than  the  most 
gorgeous  ceremonies  which  the  devotion,  and  art,  and 
wealth  of  man  ever  devised — sacrifices,  by  virtue  of 
which  the  Church  would  arise  out  of  her  ruins,  like 
the  Jewish  Church  after  the  captivity,  more  pure,  more 
glorious,  and  more  triumphant  than  ever. 

What  do  I  mean  ?  I  mean  this — that  there  are  three 
sacrifices  which  every  man,  woman,  and  child  can  offer, 
and  should  offer,  however  lowly,  however  uneducated  in 
what  the  world  calls  education  nowadays.  Those  they 
can  offer  to  God,  and  with  them  they  can  worship  God, 
and  render  to  God  the  things  which  are  God's,  wherever 
tbey  are,  whatever  they  are  doing,  whatever  be  the  laws  of 
their  country,  or  the  state  of  society  round  them.      For 


Sacrifice  to  CcBsar  or  to  God,  383 

of  these  sacrifices  our  Lord  Himself  said,  The  true 
worshippers  shall  worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in 
truth  :  for  the  Father  seeketh  such  to  worship  Him. 

Now  what  are  these  spiritual  sacrifices  ? 

First  and  foremost,  surely,  the  sacrifice  of  repent- 
ance, of  which  it  is  written,  *'  The  sacrifice  of  God  is  a 
broken  spirit.  A  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  oh  God, 
Thou  wilt  not  despise."  Surely  when  we — even  the  best 
of  us — look  back  on  our  past  lives  ;  when  we  recollect, 
if  not  great  and  positive  sins  and  crimes,  yet  the  oppor- 
tunities which  we  have  neglected;  the  time,  and  often  the 
money  which  we  have  wasted ;  the  meannesses,  the 
tempers,  the  spite,  the  vanity,  the  selfishness,  which  we 
have  too  often  indulged — When  we  think  of  what  we 
have  been,  and  what  we  might  have  been,  what  we  are, 
and  what  we  might  be ;  when  we  measure  ourselves, 
not  by  the  paltry,  low,  and  often  impure  standard  of  the 
world  around  us,  but  by  the  pure,  lofty,  truly  heroical 
standard  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — what  can  we  say, 
but  that  Ave  are  miserable — that  is,  pitiful  and  pitiable 
sinners,  who  have  left  undone  what  we  ought  to  have 
done,  and  done  that  which  we  ought  not  to  have  done, 
till  there  is  no  health  in  us  ? 

And  if  you  ask  me,  How  is  it  a  sacrifice  to  God  to 
confess  to  Him  that  we  are  sinners  ?  the  answer  is 
simple.  It  is  a  sacrifice  to  God,  and  a  sacrifice  well- 
pleasing  to  Him,  simply  because  it  is  The  Truth.  God 
wants  nothing  from  us  ;  we  can  give  Him  nothing.  The 
wild  beasts  of  the  forest  are  His,  and  so  are  the  cattle 
on  a  thousand  hills.  If  He  be  hungry  He  will  not  tell 
us,  for  the  whole  world  is  His  and  all  that  is  therein. 


384  Sacrifice  to  Ccesai'  or  to  God. 

But  what  He  asks  is,  that  for  our  own  sakes  we  should 
see  the  truth  about  ourselves,  see  what  we  really  are, 
and  sacrifice  that  self-conceit  which  prevents  our  seeing 
ourselves  as  God  our  Father  sees  us.  And  wh}^  does  that 
please  God  ?  Simply  because  it  puts  us  in  our  right 
state,  and  in  our  right  place,  where  we  can  begin  to  be- 
come better  men,  let  us  be  as  bad  as  we  may.  If  a 
man  be  a  fool,  the  best  possible  thing  for  him  is  that  he 
should  find  out  that  he  is  a  fool,  and  confess  that  he  is 
a  fool,  as  the  first,  and  the  absolutely  necessary  first  step 
to  becoming  wise.  Therefore  repentance,  contrition, 
humility,  is  the  very  foundation-stone  of  all  goodness, 
virtue,  holiness,  usefulness ;  and  God  desires  to  see  us 
contrite,  simply  because  He  desires  to  see  us  good  men 
and  good  women. 

Next,  the  sacrifice  of  thankfulness,  of  which  it  is 
written,  "  I  will  offer  to  thee  the  sacrifice  of  thanks- 
giving, and  will  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord."  And 
again — By  Christ  let  us  offer  the  sacrifice  of  praise  con- 
tinually, that  is,  the  fruit  of  our  lips,  giving  thanks 
unto  His  name.  Ah  1  my  friends,  if  we  offered  that  sacri- 
fice oftener,  we  should  have  more  seldom  need  to  offer  the 
first  sacrifice  of  repentance.  I  am  astonished  when  I  look 
at  my  own  heart,  by  which  alone  I  can  judge  the  hearts 
of  others,  to  see  how  unthankful  one  is.  How  one  takes 
as  a  matter  of  course,  without  one  aspiration  of  gratitude 
to  our  Father  in  heaven— how  one  takes,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  I  say,  life,  health,  reason,  freedom,  education, 
comfort,  safety,  and  all  the  blessings  of  humanity,  and 
of  this  favoured  land.  How  we  never  really  feel  that 
these   are   all  God's  undeserved  and  unearned  mercies  ; 


Sacrifice  to  Ccesar  or  to  God.  385 

and  then,  how,  if  we  set  our  hearts  on  anything  which 
we  have  not  got,  forget  all  that  we  have  already,  and 
begin  entreating  God  to  give  us  something  which,  if  we 
had,  we  know  not  whether  it  would  be  good  for  us  ;  like 
children  crying  peevishly  for  sweets,  after  their  parents 
have  given  them  all  the  wholesome  food  they  need. 
Ah  !  that  we  would  offer  to  God  more  frankly  the 
sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  !  So  we  should  do  God  justice, 
by  confessing  all  we  owe  to  Him ;  and  so,  we  must  believe, 
we  should  please  God  ;  for  if  God  be  indeed  our  Father 
in  heaven,  as  surely  as  a  parent  is  pleased  with  the 
affection  and  gratitude  of  his  child,  so  will  our  Father  in 
heaven  be  pleased  when  He  sees  us  love  Him,  who  first 
loved  us. 

Next^the  sacrifice  of  righteousness,  of  which  it  is 
written,  ''  Present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy, 
acceptable  to  God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service."  To 
be  good  and  to  do  good,  even  to  long  to  be  good  and  to 
long  to  do  good,  to  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness, 
is  the  best  and  highest  sacrifice  which  any  human  being 
can  offer  to  his  Father  in  heaven.  For  so  he  honours  his 
father  most  truly  ;  for  he  longs  and  strives  to  be  like 
that  Father  ;  to  be  good  as  God  is  good,  holy  as  God  is 
holy,  beneficent  and  useful  even  as  God  is  infinitely 
beneficent  and  useful ;  being,  in  one  word,  perfect,  as 
his  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.  This  is  the  best  and 
highest  act  of  worship,  the  truest  devotion.  For  pure 
worship  (says  St  James),  and  undefiled  before  God  and 
the  Father,  is  this,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in 
their  affliction,  and  to  keep  ourselves  unspotted  from 
the  world. 

2  B 


386  Sacrifice  to  Cccsar  07^  to  God. 

Yes — every  time  we  perform  an  act  of  kindness  to 
any  human  being,  aye,  even  to  a  dumb  animal ;  every 
time  we  conquer  our  own  worldliness,  love  of  pleasure, 
ease,  praise,  ambition,  money,  for  the  sake  of  doing  what 
our  conscience  tells  us  to  be  our  duty,  we  are  indeed 
worshipping  God  the  Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  and 
offering  him  a  sacrifice  which  He  will  surely  accept,  for 
the  sake  of  His  beloved  Son,  by  whose  spirit  all  good 
deeds  and  thoughts  are  inspired. 

Think  of  these  things,  my  friends,  always,  but,  above 
all,  think  of  them  as  often  as  you  come — as  would  to 
God  all  would  come — to  the  altar  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
Holy  Communion  of  His  body  and  blood.  For  there,  in- 
deed, you  render  to  God  that  which  is  God's — namely, 
yourselves ;  there  you  offer  to  God  the  true  sacrifice, 
which  is  the  sacrifice  of  yourselves — the  sacrifice  of 
repentance,  the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving,  the  sacrifice  of 
righteousness,  or  at  least  of  hunger  and  thirst  after 
rigliteousness  ;  and  there  you  receive  in  return  your  share 
of  God's  sacrifice,  the  sacrifice  which  you  did  not  make 
for  Him,  but  Avhich  He  made  for  you,  when  He  spared 
not  His  only-begotten  Son  but  freely  gave  Him  for  us. 

That  is  the  sacrifice  of  all  sacrifices,  the  wonder  of  all 
wonders,  the  mystery  of  all  mysteries  ;  and  it  is  also  the 
righteousness  of  all  righteousness,  the  generosity  of  all 
generosity,  the  nobleness  of  all  nobleness,  the  beauty  of 
all  beauty,  the  love  of  all  love.  Thinking  of  that, 
beholding  in  that  bread  and  wine  the  tokens  of  the 
boundless  love  of  God,  then  surely,  surely,  our  repentance 
for  past  follies,  our  thankfulness  for  present  blessings, 
our  longing  to  be  good,  pure,  useful,  humane,  generous. 


Sacrifice  to  Ccrsar  or  to  God.  387 

high-minded — in  one  word,  to  be  holy — ought  to  rise  up 
in  us,  into  a  passion,  as  it  were,  of  noble  shame  at  our 
own  selfishness,  and  admiration  of  God's  unselfishness, 
a  longing  to  follow  His  divine  example,  and  to  live,  not 
for  ourselves,  but  for  our  fellow-mon.  If  we  could  but 
once  understand  the  full  meaning  of  those  awful  yet 
glorious  words,  *'He  that  spared  not  His  own  Son,  but 
delivered  Him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  H-e  not  with 
Him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  ? "  then,  indeed,  we 
should  understand  that  the  one  overpowering  reason  for 
being  unselfish  and  doing  good  is  this — that  we  are 
God's  children,  and  that  God  our  Father  is  utterly 
unselfish,  and  utterly  does  good,  even  at  the  sacrifice 
of  Himself;  and  that  therefore  when  we  are  unselfish, 
and  do  good,  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  ourselves,  we  do 
ndeed,  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  "render  unto  God  tlie 
things  that  are  God's/' 


SERMON  XLIT. 

THE  UNJUST  STEWARD. 

Eversley,  1866. 

Ninth  Sunday  after  Trinity. 

Luke  xvi.  8. 

"And  the  Lord  commended  the  unjust  steward,  because  he  had 
done  wisely. " 

None  of  our  Lord's  parables  has  been  as  difficult  io 
explain  as  this  one.  Learned  and  pious  men  have 
confessed  freely,  in  all  ages,  that  there  is  much  in  the 
parable  which  they  cannot  understand ;  and  T  am 
bound  to  confess  the  same.  The  puzzle  is,  plainly,  why 
our  Lord  should  seem  to  bid  us  to  copy  the  conduct  of 
a  bad  man  and  a  cheat.  For  this  is  the  usual  inter- 
pretation. The  steward  has  been  cheating  his  master 
already.  When  he  is  found  out  and  about  to  be  dis- 
missed, he  cheats  his  master  still  further,  by  telling  his 
debtors  to  cheat,  and  so  wins  favour  with  them. 

But  does  our  Lord  bid  us  copy  a  cheat  ?  I  cannot 
believe  that ;  and  the  text  I  should  have  said  ought  to 
give  us  a  very  different  notion.  We  read  that  the  lord 
— that  is,  the  steward's  master — commended  the  unjust 
steward.  What  ?  Commended  him  for  cheating  him  a 
second  time,  and  teaching  his  debtors  to  cheat  him  ?    He 


The  Unjust  Steward.  389 

must  have  been  a  man  of  a  strange  character — very  unlike 
any  man  whom  we  know,  or,  at  all  events,  any  man  whom 
w^e  should  wish  to  know — to  have  done  that.  But  it 
is  said — he  commended  him  for  having  acted  wisely. 
Now  that  word  ''  wisely  "  may  merely  mean  prudently, 
sensibly,  and  with  common  sense.  But  if  the  master 
thought  that  to  cheat,  or  to  teach  others  to  cheat,  was 
acting  either  wisely  or  prudently,  then  he  was  a  very 
foolish  and  short-sighted  man,  and  altogether  mistaken. 
For  be  sure  and  certain,  and  settle  it  in  your  minds, 
that  neither  falsehood  or  dishonesty  is  ever  either  wise 
or  prudent,  but  short-sighted,  foolish,  certain  to  punish 
itself.  Such  teaching  is  totally  contrary  to  our  Lord's 
own  teaching.  Agree  with  thine  adversary  quickly, 
He  says,  while  thou  art  in  the  way  with  him,  lest  he 
deliver  thee  to  the  Judge.  If  thou  hast  done  wrong, 
right  it  again  as  soon  as  possible ;  for  your  sin  will 
surely  find  you  out,  and  avenge  itself.  Give  the  devil 
his  due,  says  the  good  old  proverb.  Pay  him  at 
once  and  be  done  with  him  :  but  never  think  to 
escape  out  of  his  clutches,  as  too  many  wretched 
and  foolish  sinners  do,  by  running  up  a  fresh  score 
with  him,  and  trying  to  hide  old  sins  by  new 
ones.  Be  sure  that  if  the  steward  cheated  his  master 
a  second  time,  the  master  was  foolish  and  mistaken, 
and  as  it  were  a  partner  in  the  steward's  sin  by 
commending  him.  But  if  so  ;  why  does  our  Lord 
mention  it  ?  What  had  our  Lord  to  do,  what  have 
we  to  do,  with  the  opinion  of  so  foolish  a  man  ? 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  only  reason  for  our  Lord's  using 
the  words  of  the  text,   must  be,  that  the  master  was 


390  The  Unjust  Steward. 

riglit,  not  wrong,  in  commending  the  steward.  But 
it  seems  to  me,  also,  that  the  master  could  be  right 
only,  if  the  steward  was  right  also — if  the  steward  had 
done  the  right  and  just  thing  at  last,  and,  instead  of 
cheating  his  master  a  second  time,  had  done  his  best 
to  make  restitution  for  his  own  sins. 

But  how  could  that  be  ?  We  know  nothing  of  what 
these  debtors  were.  All  we  know  is  that  one  believed 
that  he  owed  the  Lord  a  hundred  measures  of  oil ;  and 
another  believed  that  he  owed  him  a  hundred  measures 
of  wheat ;  and  that  the  steward  told  one  to  put  down 
in  his  bill  eighty,  and  the  other  fifty.  Now  suppose 
that  the  steward  had  been  cheating  and  oppressing 
these  men,  as  was  common  enough  in  those  days  with 
stewards,  and  has  been  common  enough  siuce  ;  suppose 
that  he  had  been  charging  them  more  than  they  really 
owed,  and,  it  may  be,  putting  the  surplus  into  his  own 
pocket,  and  so  wasting  his  master's  goods — that  the  one 
really  owed  only  eighty  measures  of  oil,  and  the  other 
really  owed  only  fifty  of  wheat ;  w^hat  could  be  more 
simple,  or  more  truly  wise  either,  when  he  was  found 
out,  than  to  do  this — to  go  round  to  the  debtors  and 
confess  :  I  have  been  overcharging  3^ou  ;  you  do  not  owe 
what  I  have  demanded  of  you  ;  take  your  bill  and  write 
four-score,  for  that  is  what  you  really  owe? 

This  is  but  a  guess  on  my  part.  But  all  other  explana- 
tions are  only  guesses  likewise,  because  we  do  not  know 
how  business  was  transacted  in  those  days  and  in  that 
country.  We  do  not  know  whether  these  debtors  were 
tenants,  paying  rent  in  kind,  or  traders  to  whom  goods  had 
been  advanced,  or  what  they  were.      We  do  not  know 


The  Unjicst  Steward.  391 

whether  the  steward  was  agent  of  the  estate,  or  house 
steward,  or  what  he  was.  But  this  we  do  know — that  to 
mend  one  act  of  villainy  by  committing  a  fresh  one,  is  not 
wisdom,  but  foolishness;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  our  Lord 
would  never  have  held  up  the  unjust  steward  as  an 
example  to  us,  or  quoted  his  master's  opinion  of  him.  if 
all  he  did  was  to  commit  fraud  on  fraud,  and  make  bad 
worse,  thereby  risking  his  own  more  utter  ruin.  And 
this  view  of  the  parable  surely  agrees  with  our  Lord's 
own  lesson,  which  He  draws  from  it.  *'  And  I  say  unto 
you.  Make  to  yourselves  friends  of  the  mammon  of 
righteousness."  But  what  does  that  mean  ?  Wise  men 
have  been  puzzled  by  that  text  as  much  as  by  the  parable  ; 
but  surely  our  Lord  Himself  explains  it  in  the  verses 
which  follow  :  "  He  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is 
least,  is  faithful  also  in  much  ;  and  he  that  is  unjust  in 
that  which  is  least,  is  unjust  also  in  much."  He  that  is 
faitltful.  The  unjust  steward  was  commended  for  acting 
wisely.  Now,  it  seems  the  way  to  act  wisely  is  to  act 
faithfully — that  is  honestly.  Our  Lord  bids  us  copy  the 
unjust  steward,  and  make  ourselves  friends  of  the  mammon 
of  unrighteousness.  Now,  it  seems,  He  tells  us  that  the 
way  to  make  friends  of  men  by  money  transactions  is  to 
deal  faithfully  and  honestly  by  them.  This  then  was 
perhaps  why  the  Lord  commended  the  unjust  steward, 
because  he  had  been  converted  in  time,  and  seen  his 
true  interest ;  and  for  once  at  least  in  his  life  become 
just.  He  had  found  out  that  after  all,  honesty  is 
the  best  policy ;  as  God  grant  all  of  us  may  find  out 
if  any  of  us  have  not  found  it  out  already.  Honesty 
is  the  best  policy.      Faithfulness,    as  our  Lord  calls   it, 


392  The  Unjust  Steward. 

is  the  true  wisdom.  And  in  that,  as  our  Lord  says,  tbe 
children  of  this  world  are  wiser  in  their  generation  than 
the  children  of  light.  The  children  of  this  world,  the 
plain  worldly  men  of  business,  find  that  to  conduct  their 
business  they  must  be  faithful,  diligent,  punctual,  accurate, 
cautious,  business-like.  They  must  have  practical  common 
sense,  which  is  itself  a  kind  of  honesty.  They  must  be 
men  of  their  word,  just  and  true  in  their  dealings,  or 
sooner  or  later,  they  will  fail.  Their  schemes,  their 
money,  their  credit,  their  character,  will  fail  them,  and 
they  will  be  overwhelmed  by  ruin. 

And  that  is  just  what  too  often  the  children  of  light 
forget.  The  children  of  light  have  a  higher  light,  a 
deeper  teaching  from  God,  than  the  children  of  the  world. 
They  have  a  great  insight  into  what  ought  to  be  ;  they 
see  that  mankind  might  be  far  wiser,  happier,  better, 
holier  than  they  are  ;  they  have  noble  and  lofty  hopes 
for  the  future ;  they  desire  the  welfare  and  the  holiness 
of  mankind.  But  they  are  too  apt  to  want  practical 
common  sense.  And  so  they  are  laughed  at  (and 
deservedly)  as  dreamers,  as  fanatics,  as  foolish  un- 
practical people,  who  are  wasting  their  talents  on  im- 
possible fancies.  Often  while  their  minds  are  full  of 
really  useful  and  noble  schemes,  they  neglect  their 
business,  their  families,  their  common  duties,  till  they 
cause  misery  to  those  around  them,  and  shame  to 
themselves.  Often,  too,  they  are  tempted  to  be 
actually  dishonest,  to  fancy  that  the  means  sanctify  the 
end ;  that  it  is  lawful  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come ; 
and  so,  in  order  to  carry  out  some  fine  scheme  of  theirs, 
to  say  false  things,  or  do  mean  or  cruel  things,  not  foi 


The  Unjust  Steivard.  393 

their  own  interest,  but,  as  they  fancy,  for  the  cause  of 
God  :  as  if  God,  and  God's  cause,  could  ever  be  helped 
by  the  devil  and  his  works.  And  so  they  cast  a 
scandal  on  religion,  and  give  the  enemies  of  the  Lord 
reason  to  blaspheme.  So  it  was,  it  seems,  in  our  Lord's 
time — so  it  has  been  too  often  since.  The  children  of  light 
— those  who  ought  to  be  of  most  use  to  their  own 
generation — are  sometimes  of  least  use  to  it,  through 
their  own  weaknesses  and  follies.  They  will  not  remember 
that  he  that  is  not  faithful  in  that  wdiich  is  least,  in 
the  every-day  concerns  of  life,  is  not  likely  to  be  faithful 
in  that  wdiich  is  greatest  ;  that  if  they  will  not  be 
faithful  in  the  unrighteous  mammon — that  is,  if  they 
cannot  resist  the  temptations  to  meanness  and  unfairness 
which  come  with  all  money  transactions,  God  w^ill  not 
commit  to  them  the  true  riches — the  power  of  making 
their  fellow  creatures  wiser,  happier,  better.  If  they 
will  not  be  faithful  in  that  which  is  another  man's 
— in  plain  English,  if  they  will  not  pay  their  debts 
honestly,  who  will  give  them  that  which  is  their  own 
■ — the  inspiration  of  God's  indwelling  Spirit  ?  Would 
to  God  all  high  religious  professors  would  recollect  that, 
and  be  just  and  honest,  before  they  pretend  to  higher 
graces  and  counsels  of  perfection. 

This  lesson,  then,  I  think  our  Lord  means  to  teach 
us.  I  do  not  say  it  is  the  only  lesson  in  the  parable ; 
God  forbid.  But  I  think  that  our  Lord's  own  words 
show  us  that  this  is  one  lesson.  That,  however  pious  we 
are,  however  enlightened  we  are,  however  useful  we  wdsh 
to  be  ;  in  one  word,  however  much  we  are,  or  fancy 
ourselves    to   be,    children    of   light,    our    first   duty   as 


394  '^^^^  U^ijust  Stewa7^d. 

Christian  men  is  the  duty  which  lies  nearest  us — that 
of  which  it  is  written  :  ''  If  a  man  know  not  how  to  rule 
his  own  house,  how  shall  he  take  care  of  the  Church  of 
God?"  And  again,  "If  any  provide  not  for  his  own 
and  specially  for  those  of  his  own  house,  he  hath 
denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel."  Our 
first  duty,  I  say,  as  Christian  men,  is  to  be  just 
and  honest  in  money  matters  and  e very-day  business  ; 
and  over  and  above  that,  to  be  generous  and  liberal 
therein.  Not  merely  to  pay — which  the  very  publicans 
in  our  Lord's  time  did — but  to  give,  generously,  liberally; 
lending,  if  we  can  afford  it,  as  our  Lord  bids  us, 
hoping  for  nothing  again  ;  and  remembering  that  he  who 
giveth  to  the  poor  lendeth  to  the  Lord,  and  whatsoever 
he  layeth  out,  it  shall  be  repaid  him  again. 

Yes,  my  friends,  we  must  all  needs  take  our 
Lord's  advice — make  to  yourselves  friends  of  the 
mammon  of  unrighteousness,  that  when  ye  fail,  they 
may  receive  you  into  everlasting  habitations.  When 
ye  fuAl — literally,  when  you  are  eclipsed,  as  the  sun 
is  eclipsed.  That  must  happen  to  all  of  us,  to  the 
best,  the  wisest,  the  most  famous.  Each  must  be 
eclipsed,  and  passed  in  the  race  of  life,  and  forgotten 
for  some  younger  man.  Each  in  turn  must  fail.  One 
may  fail  in  money — the  mammon  for  which  he  toiled 
may  take  to  itself  wings  and  fly  away  ;  or  he  may  fail 
in  his  plans,  noble  plans,  and  useful  though  they  seemed; 
and  he  may  find,  as  he  grows  old,  that  the  world  has 
not  gone  his  way,  but  quite  another  one  ;  or  he  may 
fail  in  health,  and  be  cut  down  and  crij^pled,  and  laid 
by  in  the  midst  of  his  work.      And  even  if  he  escapes 


The  Unjust  Steward.  395 

all  these  disasters,  he  must  needs  fail  at  last,  by  mere 
old  age,  when  the  days  come  *'  when  thou  shalt  say, 
I  have  no  pleasure  in  them  ; "  when  the  sun  and  the  light 
are  darkened,  and  the  clouds  return  after  the  rain, 
when  the  strong  men  bow  themselves,  and  those  who 
look  out  of  the  windows  are  dark ;  and  he  shall  rise  up 
at  the  voice  of  a  bird,  and  fears  shall  be  in  the  way,  and 
the  grasshopper  shall  be  a  burden,  and  desire  shall  fail  : 
because  man  goeth  to  his  long  home,  and  the  mourners  go 
aboutthe  streets.  Think  for  yourselves.  What  would  you 
wish  your  end  to  be — lonely,  unliappy,  without  the  love, 
the  respect,  the  care  of  your  fellow-men  ;  or  surrounded 
by  friends  who  comfort  your  failing  body  and  soul  on 
earth,  and  receive  you  at  last  into  everlasting  habita- 
tions ? 

Make  friends,  make  friends  against  that  day,  whether 
or  not  you  make  them  out  of  the  mammon  of  un- 
righteousness. If  you  have  been  unrighteous,  bring 
friends  back  to  you,  as  the  steward  did,  by  being  just  and 
fair,  by  confessing  your  faults  freely,  by  doing  your  best  to 
atone  for  them.  And  if  you  have  no  share  in  the 
mammon  of  unrighteousness,  still  make  friends.  Make 
them  by  truth  and  justice,  make  them  by  generosity 
and  usefulness.  To  ease  every  burden,  and  let  the 
oppressed  go  free,  to  feed  the  hungry,  clothe  the  naked, 
and  what  the  very  poorest  can  do — comfort  the  mourner; 
to  nurse  the  sick,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows 
in  their  affliction,  and  so  keep  ourselves  unspotted  from 
the  selfishness  of  the  world — This  is  that  true  Religion, 
acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God  the  Father — and  happy 
he  who  has  so  served   God.       Happy  for  him,  when  he 


39^  The  Unjust  Steivard. 

begins  to  fail,  to  see  round  him  attached  hearts,  and 
grateful  faces,  hands  ready  to  tend  him,  as  he  has 
tended  others.  And  happier  still  to  remember  that  on 
the  other  side  of  the  dark  river  of  death  are  other  grate- 
ful faces,  other  loving  hearts,  ready  to  welcome  him  into 
everlasting  habitations — and  among  them,  and  above 
them  all,  one  whose  form  is  as  the  Son  of  Man,  full  of  all 
humanity  Himself,  and  loving  and  rewarding  all  humanity 
in  His  creatures,  saying,  ''  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  to  one 
of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
Me," 


K^KTIMON    XLIIT. 

THE    RICH    AND    THE    POOR^ 

Chapel  RoTjal,  Whitehall^  1871. 

Proverbs  xxii.  2. 

**  The  rich  and  poor  meet  together  :  the  Lord  is  the  maker 
of  them  all." 

I  HAVE  been  asked  to  preach  here  this  afternoon  on 
"behalf  of  the  Parochial  Mission  Women's  Fund.  I  may 
best  describe  the  object  for  which  I  plead,  as  an  attempt 
to  civilise  and  Christianise  the  women  of  the  lower 
classes  in  the  poorer  districts  of  London  and  other 
great  towns,  by  means  of  women  of  their  own  class — ■ 
women  who  have  gone  through  the  same  struggles  as 
they  have,  and  who  will  be  trusted  by  them  to  under- 
stand and  to  sympathize  with  their  needs  and  difficulties. 
These  mission  women  are  in  communication  with  lady- 
superintendents  in  each  ecclesiastical  district.  These 
are,  I  understand,  usually  the  wives  of  small  tradesmen, 
or  of  clerks.  They,  again,  are  in  communication  with 
ladies  at  the  West  End  of  London,  who  are  willing  to 
give  personal  help  and  money  for  certain  objects,  but  not 
indiscriminate  alms.  And  thus  a  series  of  links  is  estab- 
lished between  the  most  prosperous  and  the  least  prosper- 
ous classes,  by  means  of  which  the  rich  and  the  poor  may 


39^  The  Rich  and  the  Poo7\ 

meet  together,  and  learn — to  the  infinite  benefit  of  both 
- — that  the  Lord  is  the  maker  of  them  alL  Considering 
this  excellent  scheme,  I  could  not  help  seeing  as  a  back- 
ground to  it,  a  very  different  and  a  far  darker  scene.  I 
could  not  help  remembering  that  during  these  very  days, 
the  poorer  classes  of  another  great  city  had  taken  up  an 
attitude  full  of  awful  lessons  to  us,  and  to  every  civilized 
country  upon  earth.  We  have  been  reading  of  a  hundred 
thousand  armed  men  encamped  in  the  suburbs  of  Belle- 
ville and  Montmartre,  with  cannon  and  mitrailleuses, 
uttering  through  their  organs,  threats  which  leave  no 
doubt  that  the  meaning  of  this  movement  is — as  some  of 
them  boldly  phrase  it, — a  war  of  the  poor  against  the 
rich.  There  is  no  mistaking  what  that  means.  This 
madness  has  been  stopped  for  the  time,  we  are  told, 
principally  (as  was  to  be  expected),  by  the  superior 
common  sense  of  their  wives.  But  only,  I  fear,  for  a 
time.  Such  men  will  go  far,  if  not  this  time,  then  some 
other  time.  For  they  believe  what  they  say,  and  know 
what  they  want.  They  have  done  wdth  phrases,  done 
with  illusions.  They  are  no  longer  deceived  and 
hampered  by  party  cries  against  this  and  that  gi'ievance, 
real  or  imaginary,  the  abolition  of  which  the  working 
classes  demand  so  eagerly  from  time  to  time,  in  the  vain 
belief  that  if  it  were  only  got  rid  of  the  millennium  would 
be  at  hand.  Tliey  have  done  long  ago  with  remedial 
lialf-measures.  Landed  aristocracy,  Established  Church, 
military  classes,  privileged  classes,  restricted  suffrage,  and 
all  the  rest,  have  been  abolished  in  their  country  for 
two  generations  and  more :  but  behold,  the  poor  man  finds 
himself  (or  fancies  himself,  which  is  just  as  dangerous) 


The  Rich  and  the  Poor.  399 

no  richer,  safer,  happier  after  all,  and  begins  to  see  a  far 
simpler  remedy  for  all  his  ills.  He  has  too  little  of  this 
world's  goods,  while  others  have  too  much.  What  more 
fair,  more  simple,  than  that  he  should  take  some  of  the 
rich  man's  goods,  and  if  he  resists,  kill  him,  crying, 
"  Thou  sa3^est,  let  me  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  I 
die.  Then  I  too  will  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  / 
die  ?  "  And  so  will  the  rich  and  poor  meet  together  with 
a  vengeance,  simply  because  neither  of  them  has  learnt 
that  the  Lord  is  the  maker  of  them  all. 

This  is  a  hideous  conclusion.  But  it  is  one  towards 
which  the  poor  will  tend  in  every  country  in  which 
the  rich  are  merely  rich,  spending  their  wealth  in  self- 
enjoyment,  atoned  for  by  a  modicum  of  alms. 

I  said  a  modicum  of  alms.  I  ought  to  have  said,  any 
amount  of  alms,  any  amount  of  charity.  Throughout 
the  great  cities  of  Europe — in  London  as  much  as  any- 
where— hundreds  of  thousands  are  saying,  ''  We  want  no 
alms.  We  intend  to  reconstitute  society,  even  at  the 
expense  of  blood,  so  that  no  man,  woman,  or  child,  shall 
need  the  rich  man's  alms.  We  do  not  choose,  for  it  is 
not  just,  that  he  should  take  credit  to  himself  for  giving 
us  a  shilling  when  he  owes  us  a  pound,  ten,  a  hundred 
pormds — owes  us,  in  fact,  all  by  which  he  and  his  class 
are  richer  than  us  and  our  class.  And  we  will  make 
him  pay  his  debt." 

I  do  not  say  that  such  words  are  wise.  I  believe 
them  to  be  foolish — suicidal.  I  believe  that  it  is  those 
who  patiently  wait  on  the  Lord,  and  not  the  dis- 
contented who  fret  themselves  till  they  do  evil,  who  will 
inherit  the  land,  and  be  refreshed  in  peace.      I  believe 


400  The  Rich  and  the  Poor, 

that  all  tliose  who  take  the  sword  will  perish  by  the 
sword  ;  that  those  who  appeal  to  brute  force  will  always 
find  it — just  because  it  is  brute  force — always  strongest 
on  the  side  of  the  rich,  who  can  hire  it  for  evil,  as  for 
good. 

I  only  say,  that  so  hundreds  of  thousands  think  ;  so 
they  speak,  and  will  speak  more  and  more  loudly,  as 
long  as  the  present  tone  of  society  endures, — good- 
natured  and  well  meaning,  but  luxurious,  covetous, 
ignoble,  frivolous,  ignorant ;  believing — all  classes  alike, 
not  only  that  money  makes  the  man,  but  worse  far — ■ 
that  money  makes  the  woman  also  ;  and  all  the  while 
half-ashamed  of  itself,  half-distrustful  of  itself,  and  try- 
ing to  buy  off  man  by  alms,  and  God  by  superstition. 

So  long  as  the  great  mass  of  the  poor  of  any  city 
know  nothing  of  the  great  mass  of  the  rich  of  that  city, 
save  as  folk  who  roll  past  them  in  their  carriages, 
seemingly  easy  while  they  are  struggling,  seemingly 
happy  while  they  are  wretched,  so  long  will  the  rich 
of  that  city  be  supposed,  however  falsely,  to  be  what  the 
French  workmen  used  to  call  "inangeurs  dlioinmes — 
exploiteurs  dliommes — to  get  their  wealth  by  means  of 
the  poverty,  their  comfort  by  means  of  the  misery  of  their 
fellow-men ;  and  so  long  will  they  be  exposed  to  that 
mere  envy  and  hatred  which  pursues  always  the  more 
prosperous,  till,  in  some  national  crisis,  when  the  rich  and 
poor  meet  together,  both  parties  will  be  but  too  apt 
to  behave,  through  mutual  fear  and  hate,  as  if  not 
God,  but  the  devil,  was  the  maker  of  them  all. 

These  words  are  strong.  How  can  they  be  too  strong, 
in  face  of  what  is  now  passing  in  a  neighbouring  laud  ? 


The  Rich  and  the  Poor.  40 1 

Not  too  strong,  either,  in  view  of  the  actual  state  of  vast 
masses  of  the  poor  in  London  itself,  and  indeed  of  any 
one  of  our  great  cities. 

That  matter  has  been  reported  on,  preached  on, 
spoken  on,  till  all  other  civilized  countries  reproach 
Britain  with  the  unique  contrast  between  the  exceeding 
wealth  of  some  classes  and  the  exceeding  poverty  of 
others ;  till  we,  instead  of  being  startled  by  the  re- 
proach, take  the  present  state  of  things  as  a  matter  of 
course,  a  physical  necessity,  a  law  of  nature  and 
societ}^,  that  there  should  be,  in  the  back  streets  of  every 
great  city,  hordes  of,  must  I  say,  savages?  neither 
decently  civilized  nor  decently  Christianized,  uncertain, 
most  of  them,  of  regular  livelihood,  and  therefore  shift- 
less and  reckless,  extravagant  in  prosperity,  and  in 
adversity  falling  at  once  into  want  and  pauperism. 
You  may  ask  any  clergyman,  any  minister  of  religion  of 
any  denomination,  whether  the  thing  is  not  so.  Or  if 
vou  want  to  read  the  latest  news  about  the  degradation 
of  your  fellow-subjects,  read  a  little  book  called  ''  East 
and  West,"  and  judge  for  yourselves,  whether  such  a 
population,  numbered  by  hundreds  of  thousands,  are  in 
a  state  pleasing  to  God,  or  safe  for  those  classes  of  whom 
they  only  know  that  they  pay  them  wages,  and  that 
these  wages  are  as  small  as  they  can  be  forced  to  take. 
Read  that  book ;  and  then  ask  yourselves,  is  it  wonder- 
ful that,  in  one  district,  before  the  mission  of  the 
society  for  which  1  plead  was  established,  the  poor  used 
seriously  to  believe  that  it  was  the  wish  and  endeavour 
of  the  rich  to  grind  them  down,  and  keep  them  poor. 

We,  of  course,  know  that  the  poor  folk  were  mistaken  • 
2  c 


402  The  Rich  and  the  Poor. 

bnt  do  we  not  know,  too — some  of  us — that  there  are 
political  economists  in  the  world,  who,  though  they  would 
not  willingly  make  the  poor  poorer  than  they  are,  are 
still  of  opinion  that  it  is  good  for  the  nation,  on  the 
whole,  that  the  present  state  of  things  should  continue  ; 
that  there  should  be  always  a  reserve  of  labour,  in  plain 
English^  a  vast  multitude  who  have  not  quite  work 
enough  to  live  on,  ready  to  be  called  on  in  any  emergency 
of  business,  and  used,  to  beat  down,  by  their  competition, 
the  wages  of  their  fellow- workmen  ?  Is  this  theory 
altogether  novel  and  unheard  of?  Or  this  theory  also, 
that  for  this  very  reason.  Emigration,  which  looks  the 
very  simplest  remedy  for  most  of  this  want, — while 
nine-tenths  of  the  bounteous  earth  is  waiting  to  be  sub- 
dued and  replenished  by  the  poor  wretches  who  cannot 
get  at  it — that  Emigration,  I  say,  is  an  unnecessary 
movement — that  the  people  are  all  wanted  at  home — 
to  be  such  as  the  parson  and  the  mission  women  find 
them  ? 

And  it  may  be  that  the  poor  folk  have  heard — for  a 
bird  of  the  air  may  carry  the  matter  in  these  days  of 
a  free  press — that  some  rich  folk,  at  least,  hold  this 
opinion,  and  translate  it  freely  out  of  the  delicate  language 
of  political  economy,  into  the  more  vigorous  dialect 
used  in  the  fever  alleys  and  smallpox  courts  in  which 
the  poor  are  left  to  wait  for  work.  But  if  there  be  any 
rich  persons  in  this  congregation  who  hold  these  peculiar 
economic  doctrines,  let  me  recommend  to  them,  more 
than  to  any  other  persons  present,  that  they  would 
support  a  society  which  alleviates  the  hard  pressure  of 
their  system;  which  helj^s  to  make  it  tolerable  and  prudent 


The  Rich  and  the  Poor.  403 

by  teaching  the  poor  to  save ;  by  teaching  them,  in 
London  alone, — how  to  save  £54,000  in  the  last  eleven 
years.      Let  them  help  this  society  heartily. 

The  children  of  this  world  are — in  their  generation — 
wiser  than  the  children  of  light.  But  how  long  their 
generation  will  last,  depends  mainly  (we  are  told)  on 
how  far  they  make  themselves  friends  out  of  the 
mammon  of  unrighteousness. 

But  if,  again,  there  be  rich  people  in  this  congregation, 
as  I  trust  there  are  many  and  many,  who  start, 
indignant,  at  such  an  imputation,  and  utterly  deny  its 
truth — then, — if  it  be  false,  why  in  the  name  of  God, 
and  of  humanity,  and  of  common  prudence,  why  do  they 
not  go  to  these  people  and  tell  them  so  ?  Why  do  they 
not  prove  that  it  is  not  so,  by  showing  a  little  more 
human  sympathy,  not  merely  for  them  behind  their 
backs,  but  sympathy  with  them  face  to  face  ?  If  they 
wish  to  know  how  much  can  be  done  by  only  a  little 
active  kindness,  they  have  only  to  read  the  pages  of  that 
painful,  and  yet  pleasant,  book — ''East  and  West," — 
which  I  have  just  quoted  ;  and  to  read,  also,  an  appendix 
to  it — a  Paper  originally  read  at  the  Church  Congress, 
Manchester,  by  the  present  Lord  Chancellor — a  document 
which  it  would  be  an  impertinence  in  me  to  recommend 
or  praise. 

Bring  yourselves  then  boldly  into  contact  with  these 
classes,  and  especially  into  contact  with  the  women  — 
with  the  wives  and  mothers.  For  it  is  through  the 
women,  through  them  mainly,  if  not  altogether,  that 
civilization  and  religion  can  be  introduced  among  any 
degraded  class.      It  was  so  in  the  Middle  Age.      The 


404  The  Rich  and  the  Poor, 

legends  whicli  tell  us  how  woman  was  tlien  the  civilizer, 
the  softener,  the  purifier,  the  perpetual  witness  to  fierce 
and  coarse  men,  that  there  were  nobler  aims  in  life  than 
pleasure,  and  power,  and  the  gratification  of  revenge; 
that  not  self-assertion,  but  self-sacrifice  was  the  Divine 
ideal,  toward  which  all  must  aspire.  These  old  legends 
are  immortal ;  for  they  speak  of  facts  and  laws  which  will 
endure  as  long  as  there  are  w^omen  upon  earth.  Through 
the  woman,  the  civilizer  and  the  Christianizer  must  reach 
the  man.  Through  the  wife,  he  must  reach  the  husband. 
Through  the  mother,  he  must  reach  the  children. 
I  say  he  must.  It  is  easy  to  complain  that  the  clergy 
in  every  age  and  country  have  tried  to  obtain  influence 
over  women.  They  have  been  forced  to  do  so,  because 
otherwise  they  could  obtain  no  influence  at  all.  And  if 
a  priesthood  should  arise  hereafter,  whose  calling  was  to 
teach  not  religion  but  irreligion,  not  the  good  news  that 
there  is  a  good  God,  and  that  we  can  know  Him  ;  but  the 
bad  news  that  there  is  no  God,  or,  if  there  is,  we  cannot 
know  Him ;  then  would  that  priesthood  find  it  necessary 
to  appeal  like  all  other  priesthoods,  to  the  women,  and  to 
teach  them  how  to  teach  their  children. 

But  more.  It  is  not  religion  only  which  must  be 
taught  through  the  wives  and  mothers,  but  sound  science 
also,  and  sound  economy.  If  j^ou  intend  (as  I  trust 
some  here  intend)  to  teach  the  labouring  classes  those 
laws  of  health  and  life,  on  which  depend  the  comfort, 
the  wholesomeness,  often  the  decency  and  the  morality 
of  the  poor  man's  home,  then  j^ou  must  teach  those  laws 
first  to  the  house-mother,  who  brings  the  children  into 
the  world,  and  brings  them  up,  wdio   puts  them  to  bed 


The  Rich  and  the  Poor.  405 

at  night,  and  prepares  their  food  by  day.  If  you  wish 
to  teach  habits  of  thrift,  and  sound  notions  of  economy 
to  the  labouring  classes,  you  must  teach  them  first  to  the 
housewife,  who  has  to  make  the  weekly  earnings  cover, 
if  possible,  the  week's  expenses.  If  you  wish  to  soften 
and  to  purify  the  man,  you  must  first  soften  and  purify 
the  woman,  or  at  least  encourage  her  not  to  lose  what 
womanliness  she  has  left,  amid  sights,  and  sounds,  and 
habits  which  tend  continually  to  destroy  her  woman- 
hood. You  must  encourage  her,  I  say,  to  remember 
always  that  she  is  a  woman  still,  and  let  her  teach — 
as  none  can  teach  like  her — true  manfulness  to  her 
husband  and  her  sons. 

And  how  can  you  best  do  that  ?  Not  by  giving  her 
shillings,  not  by  preaching  at  her,  not  by  scolding  her  : 
but  by  behaving  to  her  as  what  she  is — a  woman  and  a 
sister — and  cheering  her  heavy  heart  by  simple  human 
kindliness.  What  she  wants  amid  all  her  poverty  and 
toil,  her  child-bearing  and  child -rearing,  what  she  wants, 
I  say,  to  keep  her  brave  and  strong,  is  to  know  by  actual 
sight  and  speech  that  she  is  still  not  an  outcast ;  not  alone; 
that  she  is  still  a  member  of  the  human  family,  that  her 
fellow-woman  has  not  forgotten  her ;  and  that,  therefore, 
it  may  be.  He  that  was  born  of  woman  has  not  forgotten 
her  either.  That  she  has,  after  all,  a  God  in  heaven, 
who  can  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  her  infirmities, 
and  can  help  her  and  those  she  loves,  to  struggle  through 
all  their  temptations,  seeing  that  He  too  was  tempted  in 
all  things  like  them,  yet  without  sin. 

It  is  only  personal  intercourse  with  them — only  the 
meeting  of  the  rich  and  poor  together,  in  the  belief  that 


4o6  The  Rich  and  the  Poor. 

God  is  the  maker  of  them  all,  that  will  do  that.     But  it 
will  do  it. 

Only  personal  intercourse  will  reconcile  these  people 
to  their  condition,  in  as  far  as  they  ought  to  be  reconciled 
to  it.  But  personal  intercourse  will  reconcile  them  to 
it,  as  far  as  it  ous^ht,  but  no  further.  And  I  think  that 
the  system  of  personal  intercourse  attempted  by  this 
Society  is,  on  the  whole,  the  best  yet  devised.  It  is 
imperfect,  as  all  attempts  to  make  that  straight  which 
is  crooked,  and  to  number  that  which  is  wanting — to 
patch,  in  a  word,  a  radically  vicious  system  of  society, — 
must  be  imperfect ;  but  it  is  the  best  plan  which  I 
hare  yet  seen.  I  find  no  fault  with  other  plans,  God 
forbid  !  Wisdom  is  justified  of  all  her  children  ;  and 
the  amount  of  evil  is  so  great,  and  (as  I  believe,  so 
dangerous),  that  I  must  bid  God-speed  to  any  persons 
who  wull  do  anything,  always  saviug  and  excepting  indis- 
criminate almsgiving. 

But  it  seems  to  me  that  the  soothing  and  civilizing, 
and  in  due  time  Christianising,  effect  of  personal  inter- 
course cannot  begin  better  than  through  a  woman,  herself 
of  the  working  class,  who  has  struggled  as  these  poor 
souls  have  struggled,  and  conquered,  more  or  less,  where 
they  are  failing.  That  through  her  they  should  be 
brought  in  contact  with  women  of  the  more  comfort- 
able and  cultivated  class,  who  are  their  immediate 
employers,  if  not  their  immediate  neighbours  ;  and 
through  them,  again,  brought  in  contact  with  women  of 
that  class,  of  whom  I  shall  only  say,  that  if  they  were 
not  meant  for  some  such  noble  work  as  this — and  not  for 
mere  pleasure  and  mere  display,  then  for  what  purpose, 


The  Rich  and  the  Poor,  407 

m  heaven  or  earth,  were  they  made  ?  and  why  has 
Providence  taken  the  trouble  (as  it  were)  to  elaborate, 
by  long  ages  of  civilization,  that  most  exquisite  of  all 
products  of  nature  and  of  art — A  Lady  ? 

Ah  !  what  the  ladies  of  EnHand  might  do,  and  that 
without  interfering  in  the  least  with  their  duties  as  wives 
and  mothers,  if  they  would  work  together,  as  a  class  ! 
If  they  would  work  as  well  and  humanly  while  they 
are  in  towns,  as  most  of  them  do  work  while  they  are 
in  the  country  ;  as  some  of  them  do,  to  their  honour,  in 
the  towns  already  !  But  how  many  ?  what  proportion 
do  those  who  do  good  bear  to  those  who  do  nothing  ? 
What  a  small  amount  of  humanizino^  and  civilizino^  inter- 
course  with  some  women  of  the  labouring  class  is  there  in 
the  case  of  the  wives  of  rich  men  who  come  up  to 
town,  merely  for  the  season,  and  forget  that  it  is  their 
temporary  and  uncertain  stay  in  London  which  causes 
much  of  the  temporary  and  uncertain  employment  of  the 
London  poor,  and  their  consequent  temptation  to  un thrift 
and  recklessness  !  How  little  humanizing  and  civilizing 
intercourse  with  the  poor  is  carried  on  by  the  wives  of 
those  employers  of  labour  who  surely,  surely  owe  some- 
thing more  to  their  husband's  work  people,  than  to  be 
aware  (by  hearsay)  that  they  are  duly  paid  every 
Saturday  night  ? 

But  I  shall  be  told :  We  need  not  fear — we  can  justify 
ourselves  before  God  and  man.  I  shall  be  reminded  of 
all  that  has  been  done,  and  done  well  too,  for  the 
poor  during  the  last  generation,  and  bidden  not 
to  calumniate  my  countrymen.  True,  much  has 
been   done ;   and   done   well.      And  true  also  it  is  that 


4o8  The  Rich  and  the  Poor. 

no  effort  to  make  the  rich  and  poor  meet  together, 
to  bring  the  different  classes  of  society  into  con- 
tact with  each  other,  but  has  succeeded — has  sown 
good  seed — which  I  trust  may  bring  forth  good  fruit 
in  the  day  when  every  tree  shall  be  judged  by  its  fruit. 
The  events  of  1830,  startling  and  warning,  and  those 
of  1848,  more  pregnant,  if  possible,  with  warning  than 
the  former,  awakened  a  spirit  of  humanity  in  England, 
which  was  also  a  spirit  of  prudence  and  of  common 
sense. 

But  I  cannot  conceal  from  myself,  or  you,  that  the 
earnestness  which  was  awakened  in  those  days  is  dying 
out  in  these.  The  richer  classes  of  every  country  are 
tempted  from  time  to  time  to  fits  of  laziness — fits  of 
frivolity  and  luxury,  surfeits,  in  which  men  say,  with  a 
shrug  and  a  yawn — ''  Why  be  very  much  in  earnest  ? 
Why  take  so  much  trouble  ?  Somebody  must  always 
be  rich,  why  should  not  I  ?  Somebody  must  enjoy  the 
money,  why  should  not  I  ?  At  all  events,  things  will  last 
my  time."  And  that  such  a  surfeit  has  fallen  upon  the 
rich  of  this  land,  is  a  fact ;  for  that  this  is  the  tone  of 
to-day,  and  that  the  tcme  increases,  none  can  deny  who 
knows  that  which  calls  itself  the  world,  and  calls  itself 
so  only  too  truly  ;  the  world  of  which  it  is  written,  that 
all  that  is  in  the  world — the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the 
lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life — is  not  of  the 
.Father,  but  of  the  world.  And  the  world  passeth  away, 
and  the  lust  thereof.  But  he  who  doeth  the  will  of  God, 
he  alone  abideth  for  ever. 

God  grant  that  we,  who  hive  just  seen  the  most 
cunningly  organized  and  daintil}'  bedizened  specimen  of 


The  Rich  and  the  Poor.  409 

a  world,  wliicli  ever  flaunted  on  the  eartli  since  men 
began  to  build  their  towers  of  Babel,  collapse  and 
crumble  at  a  single  blow,  may  take  God's  hint,  that  the 
fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away.  Let  the  idle,  the 
frivolous,  the  sensual,  and  those  who,  like  Figaro's 
Marquis,  have  earned  all  earthly  happiness  by  only 
taking  the  trouble  to  be  born — let  them  look  back  on 
this  last  awful  Christmas-tide,  and  hear,  speaking  in  fact 
unmistakeable,  the  voice  of  the  Lord.  Think  ye  that 
they  whose  blood  Pilate  mingled  with  their  sacrifices 
were  sinners  above  all  the  Galil?eans,  because  they 
suffered  such  things  ?  I  tell  you,  ''  Nay  :  but  except 
ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish." 

There  are  those  who  will  hear  such  words  with  a 
smile,  even  with  a  sneer,  and  say,  Such  wholesale  judg- 
ments of  God,  even  granting  that  there  are  such 
things,  are,  after  all,  very  rare  :  it  is  very  seldom  that 
a  whole  class,  a  whole  system  of  society,  is  punished  in 
mass — and  why  then  need  we  trouble  ourselves  about  so 
remote  a  probability  ? 

Then  know  this — that  as  surely  as  God  sometimes 
punishes  wholesale,  so  surely  is  He  always  punishing  in 
detail.  By  that  infinite  concatenation  of  moral  causes 
and  effects,  which  makes  the  whole  world  one  mass  of 
special  Providences,  every  sin  of  ours  will  punish  itself, 
and  probably  punish  itself  in  kind.  Are  we  selfish  ? 
We  shall  call  out  selfishness  in  others.  Do  we  neglect 
our  duty  ?  Then  others  will  neglect  their  duty  to  us. 
Do  we  indulge  our  passions  ?  Then  others,  who  depend 
on  us,  will  indulge  theirs,  to   our  detriment  and  misery. 

ii  D 


4 1  o  The  Rich  and  the  Poor. 

Do  we  squander  our  money  ?  Then  our  cliildren  and 
our  servants  will  squander  our  money  for  us. 

Do  we  ? — but  what  use  to  go  on  reminding  men  of 
truths  which  no  one  believes,  because  they  are  too  pain- 
ful and  searching  to  be  believed  in  comfort  ?  What  use 
to  tell  men  what  they  never  will  confess  to  be  true — 
that  by  every  crime,  folly,  even  neglect  of  theirs,  they 
drive  a  thorn  into  their  own  flesh,  which  will  trouble 
them  for  years  to  come,  it  may  be  to  their  dying  day  ? 
And  yet  so  it  is. 

Though  the  mills  of  God  giind  slowly,  yet  they  grind  exceeding 

small  ; 
Though  with  j)atience  He  stands  waiting,  with  exactness  gi^inds 

He  all. 

As  those  who  neglect  their  fellow-creatures  will  discover, 
by  the  most  patent  undeniable  proofs,  in  that  last  great 
day,  when  the  rich  and  poor  shall  meet  together,  and 
then,  at  least,  discover  that  tiie  Lord  is  the  maker  of 
them  all 


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CtlARLES   KiNGSLEY; 

HIS    LETTERS 

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THOMAS    DE    QUINCEY: 

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